Topic

Schrodinger's Cubimal

Cubimals in Glitch are random.  You don't find out which one you have until you open the box.  There are two ways this could be done on a database level.  The box could have a specific type of Cubimal assigned to it (probably a relational link to a table of cubimal types), which just isn't revealed to the player until the box is opened.  The box could also have no reference to a cubical type at all before opening, and the act of opening a cubical box runs a process that randomly chooses a Cubimal for you.

The latter would be simpler to do from a coding point of view, but leads to a potential problem.  If you buy a cubical box, then for some reason, Tiny Speck decide to add a new Cubimal to the series, your box could open to reveal a type of cubical that didn't exist until after you bought it, which would look a bit odd.  And we can't have things being odd in Glitch.  It would be, well...  odd.

If ratios of different Cubimals in a series were changed, old boxes from before the change are simple with this 'picked on opening' method, but more complicated if they already had an assigned Cubimal type.  If a rare cubical is made more rare, a box from before the change would be more likely to contain it than a box from after - *if* the type of Cubimal in the box was already set in the database.

Because Tiny Speck released a new range of Cubimals rather than adding to the existing one, either way is quite possible.  Assigning the type but hiding it would be more flexible to allow for future changes, but is more complicated than is needed for current functionality.

If the type of Cubimal is set, though, what happens if the database line that contains the type of Cubimal isn't queried until you open the box?  In this case, quantum physics tells us that the Cubimal will simultaneously be all possible types (and, *possibly*, dead).  The quantum probability will only collapse when the database table is accessed by a SELECT statement.  Until you open the box, you have all Cubimals at once.

This does raise an interesting philosophy (or physics, I'm not sure which) question.  Would backing up the database act as an 'observation' of the system, collapse the probability, settling the Cubimal type permanently?  If just backing up is enough, then Cubimal boxes are probably almost all set, as I'm sure Tiny Speck are careful about backing up; but maybe transaction log backups are ok, in which case they could easily stay unobserved for a day.  Load balanced servers are another issue - if the SQL database is duplicated between machines, does each sync cause the Cubimals to set their form permanently?

If backups and load balancing don't collapse the wave, each unopened Cubimal box out there contains all of the Cubimals, so by buying one Cubimal box, we should get the trophy for owning the complete set.

Since a trophy does *not* appear when you hold an unopened Cubimal box, we can assume that either backing up and syncing load balanced database servers *does* count as observation of the data, or the type is picked randomly when the box is opened.

Is it possible that finding the answer to this question is the whole reason behind Glitch?  Is the 'game' actually a cover?  Is Tiny Speck really a quantum computing research company?

I don't have any answers, just a lot of questions that can't be answered until someone observes them.

Posted 97 days ago by pigpogm Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I just met you and this is crazy, but here's a cubi box, open it maybe?

    <3
    Posted 97 days ago by karibean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I love this ^_^ (wishes we could "fave" or "sub" to individual threads)
    Posted 97 days ago by Kaelyn Renai Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 karinean. . .lol
    Posted 97 days ago by Gordon Lughsen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1,000,000 karibean! Hahahahha :)
    Posted 97 days ago by Hersche Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Would backing up the database act as an 'observation' of the system, collapse the probability, settling the Cubimal type permanently?"

    I dunno, is backing up the database even self-adjoint?
    Posted 97 days ago by Meromorphic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Until you open the box, you have all Cubimals at once."

    Well, you have a probability (uncertain distribution) for each of the cubimals in that series. But clearly the function doesn't collapse until you open the box (exchanging a box item for one of a set of cubimal items).

    How about a trophy for holding a certain number of boxes for a certain amount of time? "Hope springs eternal and you held off on opening 23 cubimal boxes for 127 minutes in order to avoid the disappointment of getting yet another Chick."
    Posted 97 days ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've never thought about this in terms of quantum theory (neat idea, by the way!) but I've often thought about what your first paragraph mentions.

    It doesn't really matter (unless they ever did change rarities or types within a series) but I sometimes think (in my irrational moments) that if the cubimal is defined on open and not on purchase, I'd probably have better luck asking a friend to open mine for me. ;)
    Posted 97 days ago by diaveborn ♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • cool, but once I have a box.... CAN NOT WAIT.
    I suspect its the no reference to a cubical type at all before opening, and surely you should know its ODD around here, for great reasons. Especially that it makes it more fun.
    Posted 97 days ago by jiva Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Best. Thread. Ever.

    + ( 2 ^ 43112609 - 1 )

    --Me
    Posted 96 days ago by SchWM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The contents are determined when you open the box.  Thankfully, there's no dead cat option.
    Posted 95 days ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If there's ever a third series, there needs to be a dead cat cubimal in it. Or at least a Schrodinger's cat cubimal.
    Posted 95 days ago by Flapmouse Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Flapmouse

    I want a Schrodinger's cubimal.
    Posted 95 days ago by TotallyMentalMommy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This post merely demonstrates the incoherence of the Copenhagen school of cubimals.  Clearly a multiple universes theory makes more sense.
    Posted 95 days ago by Humbabella Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Am I the only one that didn't understand 75% of this thread?
    :'c
    Posted 95 days ago by ₰ℓ№ʀ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No, reezytm. No, you are not.
    Posted 95 days ago by N2ZOrtolanaBlue Subscriber! | Permalink
  • fantastic post
    Posted 95 days ago by fauxnomenon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If each time someone opens a cubimal box we get a new copy of Ur, that would explain the client memory usage.
    Posted 95 days ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh snap!

    *giggle*
    Posted 95 days ago by diaveborn ♥ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Brilliant! I'm with SchWM - best post ever! 
    Posted 95 days ago by JarkWoman Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Sheldon...is that you?
    Posted 95 days ago by Rutger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • :D nice. I think the iguanas are the real issue here.
    Posted 94 days ago by Thursday Soleil Subscriber! | Permalink