Topic

Poisining Trees for Soil

THERE IS CURRENTLY A BIG STIR GOING ON... about people using tree poison to poison trees to create soil patches they can dig and take to the street building projects to supply soil and earn points. I have come to caves with ALL egg trees gone, others said there are entire aras in Ix with NO trees. I've replanted a few, but tree bean seeds are expensive. I am afraid no matter how many one replants there will always be a Glitch player who will take them down... the reality of the real world also. www.facebook.com/photo.php?...

Posted 20 months ago by GOHEMI Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Kaushka had a good idea in the chat revolving about the entire stretches of trees gone:   "If the game gets off-balance because of excessive tree killng, the devs can always make changes - perhaps up the price of Tree Poison, or increase the personal penalty of the person doing the the killing - like -50% mood or Energy, maybee even a decrease in XP... I'm not worried about the tree kills at this point." . I like that, but also agree, I am not worried about the tree kills, either. It's just an observation. Whether now, or in the past, or in the future, may it be virtual reality, or reality, there will always be takers and givers and a small group who take but won't put back (exploiters). Glitch is not immune. How interesting.
    Posted 20 months ago by GOHEMI Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We kicked around some ideas in chat after the kills started.  If the mechanics stay the same, stationed tree guards will win the day.
    Posted 20 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No one really minds that trees are killed so that they can get earth for the new projects but they do mind that it's a mass killing of trees just for the "fun of it" and then they go and laugh and brag about it in the Help Channel. 
    And it's odd that it just started happening on this mass scale... some of the new breed of Glitchers perhaps...?
    Posted 20 months ago by PittyPat is sad Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I noticed a lot of people seem to have forgotten that we're testing.  Trying to screw up game styles is a vital part of the process, even if it's just for laughs.
    Posted 20 months ago by Tingly Claus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • it is probably someone just messing about since the this test is finishing in some hours. I think a good idea if it gets out of hand is to have a time limit of so many hours before killing another tree *or* a more benifical to the community would be for each tree you kill you have to replant X amount or. you have to water/pet X amount of tree before you can kill another.

    another Idea I thought of recently  is a tree protection there could be an action to protect trees like harvest and pet. there would be a option called *protect* and if X amount of people click protect a tree  it cannot be poisioned for the next X amount of ingame days. e.g when someone trys to poison it, it would come up with *this tree is protected for X amount of days or time* this would help community trees / trees in commonly used areas being poisoned so easy without discussion by the users. and trees in less used areas would be the main ones getting wiped out for projects etc.

    another one to use in conjuction with the last idea or one on its own could be that once a patch has been poisoned / killed the same one cant be poisoned again for X amount of game days. that would stop people griefing same areas so quickly. not sure if this is already ingame as I havnt tried it
    Posted 20 months ago by Hootaholic Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I found a note in Ilmenskie Caverns West today - to join a group called "Tree Killers"

    To each their own but this would explain the mass killings and how they are getting accomplished in such a short period of time..
    Posted 20 months ago by Mimi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Quick note on poison, testing, and balance for newcomers.

    We didn't always have poison. But without it we had the opposite issues with players overplanting/ never ever a new plot in your own home, etc.

    I think some protection racket is too powerful (I want this tree outside my house, damn the world), but I figure the devs will find some way to balance things better.
    Posted 20 months ago by Another Chris Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is what beta testing is about. Good to be reminded griefers do exist (and need to be dealt with) and there needs to be ways to balance resource needs.

    Better yet, I don't see why it's all trees being killed create loam (haven't tries this yet, but that's what it sounds is the case).  There could be a kind of tree/patch that when killed creates the loam. Special loam patches. Basically leave thee f/s/e trees out of it. New kind of tree needed.
    Posted 20 months ago by Tibbi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm reminded of an irreverent book on Canada that described British Columbia as the province where half the population hugs trees while the other half wants to cut them down.

    As I've said elsethread, I think there's an entirely valid in-game tension based upon limited resources, and I'm glad that the 'drama' happened in this test: New Streets are a product of labour, but they're also a product of stuff that varies in its renewability, which in turn affects other players' capacity to advance. If that means you get the equivalent of a Tree Defenders' League formed on an ad hoc basis, that's fine, and it's completely in keeping with Glitch's open-endedness.

    What I do think needs recalibrating is the benefits that accrue from contributions to projects vs those from maintaining the existing game-world. Killing trees and harvesting planks or earth/loam for projects can deliver a pretty decent payoff right now; by comparison, replanting trees, even with bean seasoning skills, is relatively expensive and unrewarding.
    Posted 20 months ago by Holgate Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think the real problem here is not tree killing, but lack of patches. Patches are needed for projects, but also for gardening quests. I have two open quests that will require me to do something with patches and I'll have to kill some trees if I don't find any.
    Posted 20 months ago by FrankenPaula Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I shall be casting my vote with my IRL wallet.
    Posted 20 months ago by Joe Blow Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I spent a long time yesterday planting up the community garden - twice. Each time i came back it was barren.  I got pissed off but then, after a coffee or 8, I realised that its only a game and people bring their own values in to it.  If people want to just take they will - I wont be replanting it again and thats a shame as it loses one of the social features of the game.
    This is the same with trees and poisoning - some people will just run around killing them all - others will get upset by this.  Its a game at the end of the day - if people get a kick from just killing then thats a shame in my view but is bound to happen in the live game.  I see it as an opportunity to plant new trees although i think a limit on the number of trees at one time killed in a location should be in place.
    Posted 20 months ago by Bob Apple Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree with Holgate in that it's a matter of balance... if the effort and penalty required to kill a tree was as significant as the effort and penalties taken to plant a tree relative to the reward, there wouldn't be as much of an issue with a small group of people killing all the trees in Ix. As things stand though, it takes a lot of effort to make a bubble bean and nurse it into a useable state... far more than 150 currants and 60 seconds of waiting to get 20 planks and some dirt.

    As for community gardens, I'm tempted to learn penmanship just so I could scatter friendly reminders around the gardens...
    Posted 20 months ago by Blitz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Good point, FrankenPaula... and ditto to the rest. Thanks for the brainstorming session. I am sure this was an invaluable experiment with an unexpected but manageable outcome for the devs. All worth it.
    Posted 20 months ago by GOHEMI Subscriber! | Permalink
  • for what it's worth, this didn't have anything to do with a new influx of beta players, but rather older players who claim to be bored, and fair enough:  the open-ended nature of the game means people will always be creating their own personal quests, or means to achieve in-game quests. 

    you're dreaming if you think there will never be griefers, and tests are for testing.  lots of interesting ideas all around!
    Posted 20 months ago by katlazam Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm all for natural lifespans on trees (a harvest counter?) so that the trees die on their own and then we can harvest the planks and the earth and replant.

    But, conversely, why not require project participants to "carry away" the earth from their current project or sell for new projects. It would be true to life and lucrative to fulfill the new streets that way. It is a resource-heavy endeavor as it stands now.

    And, btw, the players killing the trees were not using the proceeds in projects, just discarding them through the vendors for profit. That was part of the bragging rights.
    Posted 20 months ago by Mistress*of*Fishies Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It might be interesting with the "carry away" aspect if you were able to fill dug holes with earth that you carried away from a project.
    Posted 20 months ago by Jhennauchan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The carry away will be problematic of lots of players just grab whatever other players put in a project. The project will never complete this way. I suggest projects here mirror the community projects of FS, get raffle tix for contributions. Also, a certain reward for contributing a certain amount (again, like FS)
    Posted 20 months ago by KitkatCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • like the idea of being able to fill holes with earth!
    Posted 20 months ago by katlazam Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Like the idea of a natural life span and harvest counter for the trees. It was sad strolling through certain streets and seeing them picked bare. The trees play a massive resource part of the game, and killing vast amounts of them had a big knock on affect to the projects. It slowed the process down of getting other things needed to complete the project. Cause and Affect!!
    Posted 20 months ago by tweetypie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think it's interesting how this whole thing developed - I didn't realize they were just selling the earth through the vendors..

    But on the other hand, it takes a lot of energy, currants and mood to kill a tree. I imagine it was a one time thing, or it will be a one time thing for any individual player because they will also get bored of this.

    And hey, it made the game awfully interesting for a while...and I didn't mind putting out the energy to make new beans to plant...kind of gave me something to do outside of the quests etc and it was neat to change the look of an area by planting a different tree
    Posted 20 months ago by Mimi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Saying that we sold all items back to vendors is wild speculation.  I never sold anything through vendors, that would be a waste of the time I put into  my quests.   I sold all acquired loam, earth, planks, eggs, allspice, and cherries through the auctions back to the players.  Making up stuff isn't cool.  How could any of you know what I do with items anyway?  O.o have you hacked my computer?  Are you watching me type this right now?
    Posted 20 months ago by Briar Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Maybe each individual player could *harvest* a patch in the same way as harvesting a tree, rather than one player emptying it, then we wouldn't need so many clear patches.  As it is there is only a little earth from each patch, so lots of trees have to be killed to clear them. 
    Posted 20 months ago by Cassandria Subscriber! | Permalink