Topic

Stolen Property

I have been wondering why strangers have been showing up as visitors in my butler's reports. I think I know why. I put some loam and a few pumpkins way off to the left of my street today. A few hours later they were gone. I wish I had written down the names of the visitors ... perhaps it was one of them. But even if I had, what could I have done with that information? Anyway, I have learned my lesson. Put my stuff into my house or backyard if I don't want it stolen.

Posted 91 days ago by Ann DramaDuh Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • It's not stolen property. All stuff on your home street is public property (except animal equipment and icons)
    Posted 91 days ago by Rah Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think machines are locked down too?

    But yeah. :\ I wish so many players didn't have to learn about stuff like this the hard way.  with differing permissions for different things in different places and in different circumstances and some of it being buggy to boot I feel like if I had only been around for a bit and not seen the discussions, I'd have a hard time keeping up.
    Posted 91 days ago by diaveborn ♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Are all of my pigs public property as well? What about a still? And can my crops be harvested by anyone?
    Posted 91 days ago by Ann DramaDuh Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Pigs are basically public property. 
    No one can take your still or the hooch from it, although people can add to the still.
    Crops can be harvested by anyone, 60 seconds after they are fully grown - whoever planted the seeds gets one minute to harvest before anyone else can.
    Posted 91 days ago by Zany Serendipity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Your pigs can't be taken, I think. Stills are locked down.
    But yes, your crops can be harvested by anyone.
    I used to have herb gardens on my home street, but I got sick of people harvesting and not replanting (or replanting different, less valuable herbs) so I moved them to my back yard.
    Posted 91 days ago by Loki Laufeyson Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Last I read pigs were able to be taken with at least bait and I'm not sure about youth potion.
    Posted 91 days ago by diaveborn ♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • A lot of people put things in their streets specifically for people to take and make use of, so please don't assume the visitors were deliberately stealing. I know it doesn't bring your things back, but it's hopefully nicer to think that people aren't necessarily being mean.

    Have you been getting increased iMG from your rock too? That will be a result of strangers earning you iMG by harvesting trees, planting, mining etc. Hopefully that's an upside to it all.
    Posted 91 days ago by Artistech Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh yeah. Your pigs can be taken. (I still miss you Spuddly!)
    Posted 91 days ago by JimDaddy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ann - I don't think anyone meant to steal from you, if items are left out on a street most people assume they are up for grabs (maybe unless a note or sign indicates otherwise). I see that you have neighbors, you might get random visitors that way, or people might visit like I do by sometimes clicking on someone's name in global chat/trade chat/live help. I am trying to visit new streets, so sometimes randomly choose people to visit whose name pops up in chat. I figure the person I visit gets IMG from my visit, so no harm is done. I try to return the visit when someone visits me because I like to receive that extra IMG and figure other's do too.
    Posted 91 days ago by Gizmospooky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I definitely visit the streets of ppl not on my friendslist. Sometimes I just wander to see what I'll see. It isn't for nefarious purposes.

    Sometimes people decorate my street; sometimes others pick up these decorations. I might lose a piggy here and there, but I've also accumulated a flutter of butterflies left by others.

    I view my street as its own little ever-changing environment. It's mine but not-mine at the same time. Anyone has the ability to give and take on our home streets, unless they're blocked.

    And food for thought: butlers don't always show all visitors. I've had friends visit my home but the butler shows no record of their being on my street...so it's even possible that the taker of things on your street might not have been recorded.
    Posted 90 days ago by Voluptua Sneezelips Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How many pumpkins did you lose?  I'm leaving 3 with your botler right now :)
    Posted 90 days ago by Miss Portinari Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sometimes people leave stuff too. Everyone once in a while I have to remove a pig or butterfly that someone leaves on my street (which has no animals at all, only dirt piles).

    Yet again: the real problem here is that it's not obvious that home streets are public. Does TS think that this is an issue that's going to just go away? *boggle*
    Posted 90 days ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This was written before the towers were introduced, but otherwise should still hold true.  In towers, things which seem to be locked down are often not truly secure, so there are still bugs around.
    Posted 90 days ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Don't forget visitor stones; with those I've been finding myself in lots of stranger's front yards.  
    Posted 90 days ago by CrashTestPilot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes, visitor stones are a great way to visit places you've never visited before (I like them muchly). :) 

    And yes, just as leaving valuables on your front lawn out in RL means that just about anyone could, theoretically, take them, the same is true of your home street in Ur.  And, just as there are lots of people out in RL that leave little stands of extra veg, as well as privately owned parks and museums and the like, we have lots of those in Ur as well. 

    It has been established since day one of their existence that Home Streets were Public.  Always have been, probably always will be.  Take a look at that post Glum Pudding referenced, it is great. :)
    Posted 90 days ago by Grem Sketch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Janitch: "Does TS think that this is an issue that's going to just go away? *boggle*"

    It's explained at three different points during the tutorial — and, as of a week or so ago, new players are prevented from cultivating anything on their home streets until they cultivate at least one thing in their yard (where the difference is explained again).
    Posted 90 days ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So you will be able to judge the effectiveness of that by seeing how many people who went through the tutorial still have a misunderstanding. (The OP is level 16 so it could be either way.)

    It still seems to me that people have a strong natural feeling of how things should work based on the presentation and labeling and trying to re-educate them is an uphill battle.
    Posted 90 days ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • As far as I can tell the tutorial's lacking in relation to what items (non-cultivated) are protected and not protected when you put them on streets (or in houses or towers etc). 

    (I wonder if this ever got read by staff.  Relatedly, is there any word on the placed-items-in-towers bug? Today I warned someone it might still be buggy as they had what looked like millions of currants worth of rare items sitting out.)
    Posted 90 days ago by diaveborn ♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • FWIW, I like tucking things at the far end of the street where it can't be seen.  That way, the curious street traveler can wander to the faraway places, find themselves behind a tree or shrub and, if they decide to, they can also click just to see if anything was left there for them.  I haven't left feebies like this since I've been more out and about in the rest of Ur, which is a while now.  But, I do know that many players are accustomed to this practice of free items being left up for grabs.
    I also doubt it was a deliberate act of stealing.  I am sorry that your items ran away unexpectedly, that really is a horrible thing to have happen.
    Posted 90 days ago by Minkey Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That change is something I thought the tutorial needed based on stuff around the forums.  Good stuff. 
    Posted 90 days ago by Red Sauce Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think that the tutorial is heavy on info as it is. A new Glitchen is not going to retain all of this info info the first few hours of the game, let alone the first few days or weeks. Repetition is the key to knowledge retrieval so what about some Homeowner's Association Tips during the first 11 hours of the game? Some opening screen tips on private vs. public property? There are several ways to address the issue without piling all blame on the new tutorial.
    Posted 90 days ago by Mistress*of*Fishies Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Glitch Strategy contains a very useful explanation about the differences between front streets and backyards - www.glitch-strategy.com/201...
    Posted 90 days ago by Arietty Subscriber! | Permalink
  • MoF: *nod*  I know MMOs (or at least the ones I've come across) have a bit of a tradition of having large amounts of info in wikis and not really anything on their site, but I'd love a tiny tiny wiki on-site.  A few pages that go into a bit more detail on subjects like placed/dropped item permissions, number of animals/feeders on home streets, etc.  Stuff where "exploration" doesn't really cut it: you either can't get the details yourself even with experimentation, or would have to get the details through a trial-and-error that was potentially more costly than usual.

    And then the tutorial could point to the encyclopedia and the particular "more in depth info" section without having to dump all of the info at the player right then.
    Posted 90 days ago by diaveborn ♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • are there stats that shows that people doesn't just press [enter] after the next message of the tutorial shows up?
    for me the problem is the name of the street. "Home Street"... my home/house is private... so my "home street" is private too. if it didn't have the word "Home"... then it doesn't need to be private. or just call it my "Public Street"...
    Posted 90 days ago by UXRoot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ann, you already got good explanations. Just one addition: If I read you correctly, you say that the people who visited your street were unknown, and that they visited specifically to steal things. That's rather unlikely - they could not possibly have known that you had dropped things in your street; there is no system which tracks that.

    Most of the people who visit my street are unknown to me. Partly, they come because I am in two resource routes and a social route, have signed up for the visiting stones, and have lots of resources and a shop which are tracked on external sites. But I know that some of them have just wandered in through other people's signposts.

    The way streets are set up, it is very likely that you will have people there whom you don't know. But that shouldn't be a bad thing - you get iMG for interactions they perform with the items in your street, and they might well leave you gifts and messages.

    While I realise that it was annoying to have your things disappear, the people who took them most likely did assume that they were for the taking and had either been left by the home owner or even a visitor - I've had someone leave a few chunks of ore in front of each of my rocks once, which was rather adorable, or flowers before all my icons. One just should try not to think as the street as a private room that can be kept to oneself. People will get in, because it's designed that way.
    Posted 90 days ago by Not a Princess Subscriber! | Permalink
  • On the subject of items left on your street.....has anyone else been chicken bombed recently? It was funny the first time, not so much the second and third times:)
    Posted 90 days ago by Mostly Mellow Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Pigs can definitely be taken. People keep stealing my pigs, which I would rather they didn't. I'm happy with everything on my street being used, but the pigs are there to be used, not taken. :(
    Posted 90 days ago by Mahkia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • You cant just put something on your home street and expect it to stay there.

    First, too many people leave things out specifically for people to take (like I do)

    Second, home streets are public. Anyone (minus those you have blocked) can go on any home street.

    If you dont want it taken, dont leave it on your home street.

    And if you didnt know that home streets are public, then you havnt been paying attention. Which is not TS fault. Like staff said, its explained three times in the tutorial, then again when they get to their house. How can you miss something thats said that many times??
    Posted 90 days ago by Serenity's Mommy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • hey hon just tell me how much you lost loam wise and ill drop some by for you <3 pumpkins i cant replace til later but i will help you out when i can, ok?
    Posted 90 days ago by Meltemi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Butterfly Milkers / Meat Collectors/ Pig Feeders / Stills/ Icons/ Machines/ are all locked and cant be taken from the street. Machines and Icons can be used, Pig feeders and Stills can be filled but not picked up. Collectors and Milkers cant be picked up or emptied by others. Note Poles cant be picked up or edited by others and Animal Sticks cant be picked up or moved. As for pretty much everything else they can be. Sorry you didnt realize this, it is considered fair game however if items are just left on the street.  As someone else said, when ppl use the items on your street you get img...so , and some ppl will leave you gifts etc. Hope this helps:)
    Posted 90 days ago by Lyrical DejaVu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Am I the only one entirely sick of this entire debate? Home streets are public. It's been reiterated a bajillion times. I'm losing any ability to sympathise. ESPECIALLY over the whole "my name is on it!" argument. I live on a real world street that has my surname on it. That doesn't mean I can evict everyone else living on the street. I can't forbid cars driving down the street, or people walking down the sidewalk. Because just having my name on it, does not make it private. 
    Posted 90 days ago by blitheandbonny Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No, blitheandbonny, you're not.  But, we're probably going to continue debating and explaining it every few weeks/months, since there are always going to be new people coming in who don't know.

    Not to be antisocial, but my best practice I think is going to be ignoring Forum threads with "Stolen" or something similar in the title, unless it's someone who I know that started the thread.  I love you guys, but that's enough drama for me for one day. 
    Posted 90 days ago by Grem Sketch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • this needs to be solved, if there are a lot of posts about this... if there are many steps in the tutorial explaining it, and people keeps asking... then the concept is "broken". just changing the name of the street will solve it... IMHO
    Posted 90 days ago by UXRoot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Weren't we promised the ability to change the name of our street, way back when? It would be good if it were mandatory to change to something OTHER than our own name. :D
    Posted 90 days ago by Pascale Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am missing butterflies... I know it sounds silly. I mean we can't take them back to our own street, right? Do butterfies die off? I just realized one day I wasn't being fluttered by as much. :) SMH...
    Posted 90 days ago by MuddyPawPrints Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Butterflies can be milked to death, manually or with a milker. You can extend their lifespan a bit by singing to them but by far, they have the shortest lifespan. They were probably not stolen.
    Posted 90 days ago by MaryLiLamb Subscriber! | Permalink
  • MuddyPawPrints: Yes, butterflies die off, and rather quickly if you have milkers or they are being milked manually. Singing to them prolongs their life a little bit, but they have the shortest life spans of all the animals.

    I usually keep between 12 and 15 butterflies on my street and have to replace the whole group every couple weeks or so.
    Posted 90 days ago by karibean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ UxRoot - if people willfully ignore clear explanations and can't get their heads around the meaning of the word 'Public' I am against dumbing down to suit them...

    But I do get the point about it being a recurring issue where people just don't pay attention... I have little patience for ppl who can't get their heads around the definitions of very simple words
    Posted 90 days ago by Arietty Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What I would like to know is how Random, non Friend, manage to find the streets of people that do not want them? If one is not on a route or selling items from their tower people should not be just popping in on them. I now play only with family and rl friends in the game. It is Amazing how Random people find their streets and trash them on a regular basis.
    Posted 90 days ago by Anya Karenya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • OKAY but WAIT! There have been a lot of well-wishers that have come by, and - to honor their presence and goodwill - I have named a chicken after each one. I have run out of chickens, however, so .... I'm afraid I can no longer accept ... good wishes of the material kind. I now will read all 60+ replies. I never dreamed there would be so many. Thank you in advance for your advice and suggestions.
    Posted 90 days ago by Ann DramaDuh Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Alaina, did you opt in to get visitors via Visiting Stones? Also, anyone can click your name and get to your profile and visit your street that way. Or do friends have you on their signpost? Visitors to their streets can then get to your street. There are also various 3rd party sites that use the API that can generate traffic to your street. Your street is completely public.
    Posted 90 days ago by MaryLiLamb Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Changing your home streets name to NOT have your name in it....would really just cause MORE confusion TBH. Its your Home Street, where your house resides. And i would prefer that ppl know where to drop me messages...etc, easily. People need to be aware of whats public, and whats not, apparently its not easily enough available. Some people will make a point to read the wiki on their own, but many wont. All the same facts on privacy and other common topics that are confusing should be linked to the main game somehow, to make them easier to find. Maybe a tab in the encyclopedia or something along those lines.
    Posted 90 days ago by Lyrical DejaVu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @MaryLiLamb This is about my family members that play and rl friends. None of them joined routes and none did the visitor stone thing..yet random people show up and basically trash their street. I'd like to know how they are being found. For myself, I Used to be on several routes, got disgusted by visitor behavior, and left the routes. Somehow lowbie people are finding my place and leaving things a mess.
    Posted 90 days ago by Anya Karenya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • MaryLiLamb is correct though when it comes to there being API sites and they could be visiting your street through any of them. Also your street is public. If you have a tower its more likely that ppl went to your street because of it. Towers are linked to Glitch Remote, which is one of the API sites. Considering what we already stated, as to what tied down, etc, im not sure what ppl consider trashing, but thats really, a personal preference/perception regardless.
    Posted 90 days ago by Lyrical DejaVu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Alaina Any person's street is accessible from their profile page and from clicking on their avatar in-game. The streets are public, not private, by design.
    Posted 90 days ago by Pascale Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @LyricalDejaVu Your home street's name really isn't an issue. Clicking on you gives the option to visit your home street. Your profile has a link to your home street. What it's called simply doesn't matter, it will always be easy to access.
    Posted 90 days ago by Pascale Subscriber! | Permalink
  • www.glitchremote.com/#HomeS...
    Alaina, that's your home street as seen using Glitch Remote which uses the API. You have a fairly large amount of herb plots and at this time many people are gathering herbs. Your street may be drawing people looking for this resource that you've cultivated.
    Posted 90 days ago by MaryLiLamb Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Pascale, i do realize that, i just see it as an unnecessary added confusion is all. Its best to have a person's name on their, street, i really dont want to have to check a house / tower to see who's street im on, if for instance I'm on a route etc. It simply needs to be clearer when it comes to what public/private, and more easily accessed info tied to the game if it gets missed or forgotten from the tutorial.
    Posted 90 days ago by Lyrical DejaVu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm a big fan of a simple nomenclature change. Seriously, if TS would simply rename the thing "So-and-so's Public Street" instead of "So-and-so's Home Street" this entire issue would be nixed.
    Posted 90 days ago by Adar Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Visiting is encouraged in the game, being a social game. There are three badges associated with visiting the streets of complete strangers. In the first weekend of the badge rollout, I am sure dozens of Glitchen were startled as I showed up to pay them a visit. One was even home and said, "GAH! How did you get here? GET OUT!"

    Naming convention aside, you expect people to walk down your street. You do not expect people to pop in to your house. Whether we put a bowl of candy out with a sign that says, "FREE, Take One!" on our street or we leave it bare with just a mailbox and our porch light off, well, that is up to us as individuals.
    Posted 90 days ago by Mistress*of*Fishies Subscriber! | Permalink
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