Hidden-Street is having an Anniversary Contest right now!

Yep, it was Bob.

Yep.

Code's broken for me too.

Not using the code yet, thanks guys.

I dislike the event for the single reason that once you screw up ONCE, you're done for good. Which, for the Bob the Snail question, caused more trouble IMO than it was worth. Granted, they made it explicit in their rules that you use the name they provide in their database, but Bob the Snail is a common misconception. (You could make a much-less-valid argument with the same base for Doom Flounder... kind of.)

Someone got really angry over it (the text is also below):

 Angry quote

I joined these forums specifically for the event, and as I did so I thought to myself "hmm.. this place might not be so bad. I'll have to check out the community & staff as well, see what's going on around here. Might have to participate. Might be a good place to chill. We'll see."

Then, I discovered, just now, that I'm completely disqualified from a code, simply because I typed "Bob the Snail" for one of the answers, and the idiot that designed the contest made it so that everything has to be the exact spelling, exact capitalization, and didn't filter for multiple answers that would have the exact same meaning. Even game shows and contests all across the world do this.

But not HS. nah. "Oh, you called Bob by what 99% of the legacy MapleStory community calls him? Well, screw you. HA! no prize!" *robbed*

If this contest was anything like the contests on other forums, it's true design was to garner web hits & new members. I have news for the creators of such a contest: Screwing your participants out of their prizes because they gave the correct answer in a different way than you had anticipated is NOT the way to make your community grow. Fact. Many, like myself, after having been completely robbed of the prize, won't follow up with any future activity here.

You wasted my time hidden-street and didn't get what you wanted accomplished either. You screwed yourself out of a very-possibly highly-active future member to your site, and screwed me out of a prize over a technicality related to your inability to code multiple correct, accepted answers to your rigged event. You screwed us both out of our goals, and there's probably a thousand others just like me that will now walk away and never use their account again. Well done. Bravo.

--

To the three hidden-street defenders above me:

1. You have no idea what you're talking about. Your defense is crap in a basket. Bob wasn't anythings "actually" in-game name. Bob was what the 2005 community named him. He was just a snail. There was no official name in-game. Your whole argument is null, based on HS just making up what they officially named him. Nexon actually officially named him 'Bob the Snale' as a part of a quest line a few years later. You're talking out of your ass. Congratulations!

2. This isn't college or your chem homework you sucked at. If this is the angriest you've ever seen anyone post in your life, you're a sheltered soul.

3. You sir, aren't as brilliant as you think you are. Based on your advice I milked the event with the answers from another forum, which I discovered I was 100% with the exception of HS's made-up, self-proclaimed exact wording of his name, so well done on that one. You just lost another 31 people codes that I would have otherwise left alone and left for others. But your 3's little attitude and rush to the defense of a totally legitimate complaint based on semantics, of a community-named mob, no less, prompted me to be an ass about it.

So, congratulations to you three. You managed to lose 31 other people codes they could have gotten. I hadn't planned at all to just milk the event for codes, but since you 3 cheerleaders thought it was such a grand idea to just go get the copy&pasted answers and milk the hell out of it, thx for that. I'm sure there's 31 other people out there that just love you right now.

Thx again for the codes. And for the tip not to use them yet. 'precate it. ^^

Edit: Also, thx for the little uppity responses. I wouldn't want to be part of this snippity, brown-nosing place anyway, so not a problem. I won't bother to reply to anything said after this point, or even log back in for that matter, so we all win. =D

Thx again for the codes. ^_^

Yeah, making another 31 accounts and farming those codes out of spite wasn't the best idea.. but meh.

Farming 31 codes means he only took .3% of the available codes. That's like stealing a grain of sand in a reasonably sized sandbox!

^Unfortunately I know there's people who farmed hungreds of the codes and will sell them later in fm for 500mil each.

This is what I hope cannot happen in SP event.

EDIT:

Guess I shouldn't use my code yet then.

That's a shame...I guess.

In the end, if you're wearing the hat, you're promoting HS in a small way.

Yay?

Are you pineappleing kidding me. I got every answer right but put Empress Cyngus instead of just Cygnus. What a pineappleing waste of time.

To fall at the final hurdle for something so small and silly, what a stupid event.

It's also a stupid event for those people who got a question wrong days ago. When they submitted the answer it should have told you THEN that you are wrong and can't get a prize. giving people false hope by allowing them to finish the event only to be told they were wrong anyway is just cruel and stupid. This really doesn't reflect well on Hidden Street, they should have designed this event better.

This is what I hope cannot happen in SP event.

Indeed, several mistakes here we should make sure not to repeat.

One is in the PR. While I can understand not wanting to give the reward to people just for registering, a fansite should also not make people feel cheated out of a reward they put an honest effort into. Giving us nothing because we got one letter wrong is Nexon's privilege, fansites should be friendlier. Should have allowed alternate names and spelling, and should also have allowed getting some questions wrong.

Second is in the security. Farming should not be possible, at least not easily.

And third is in the technical side. The codes not working is probably Nexon's fault, but it still makes people mad at hidden-street instead. We should give thought to how we don't fall into a similar pit.

Are you kidding me? I said Empress Cygnus, and that is unacceptable? Jesus Christ HS, give people some leeway.

I dislike the event for the single reason that once you screw up ONCE, you're done for good.\

This is why our event uses a point system rather than a disqualifying. Your only penalty for not knowing an answer should be having to spend a little longer than someone who does, not outright disqualification

Unfortunately I know there's people who farmed hungreds of the codes and will sell them later in fm for 500mil each.

This is what I hope cannot happen in SP event.

Not going to happen in ours. Our disqualifying criteria should shut that down pretty well, albeit not perfectly.

Will the Southperry event be limited? Because I think it is silly to have an event where you are only giving away a limited number of items.

Sure, those who got the item will be all special and unique, but I think it is better to give away a limitless supply of an item within a limited time frame.

Will the Southperry event be limited? Because I think it is silly to have an event where you are only giving away a limited number of items.

Sure, those who got the item will be all special and unique, but I think it is better to give away a limitless supply of an item within a limited time frame.

You're looking at this from the wrong direction - All the codes have to exist on Nexon's side too to be valid.
Since the valid tokens come from Nexon yes, they'll be limited to as many as they load, they have to be, because Nexon isn't going to hand us code to generate our own tokens as many as we need.
They haven't told us what our limit would be, but they've been given our traffic range and should have enough info from these other events to make a reasonable amount of tokens. If they don't there are provisions in place to put people in queue until Nexon provides more codes, since they came back and gave Basil extras when they ran out.

What was Basil's limit in the first place anyway? (I was afk when all that went down)

I had 2 accounts on HS, one where I put Cygnus and one where I put Empress Cygnus. Got the code for both, but NOPE INVENTORY FULL

What was Basil's limit in the first place anyway? (I was afk when all that went down)

I don't think any one really knows. It wasn't mentioned anywhere in specifics that I saw.

Should have allowed alternate names and spelling, and should also have allowed getting some questions wrong.

Yeah... if not automatically allowing variations from the start, at least look at the wrong answers before dismissing them. "Cygnus" vs. "Empress Cygnus" is not a case of one being wrong.

Yeah... if not automatically allowing variations from the start, at least look at the wrong answers before dismissing them. "Cygnus" vs. "Empress Cygnus" is not a case of one being wrong.

I don't know what answers everyone put exactly, but are we even sure that "Cygnus" vs "Empress Cygnus" was the problem which disqualified a bunch of people? Since:

I had 2 accounts on HS, one where I put Cygnus and one where I put Empress Cygnus. Got the code for both, but NOPE INVENTORY FULL

And I'm sure that I put in "Nautilus Harbor" instead of "Nautilus" and still got the code, so I would guess that there is some leeway on the format of the answers.

And third is in the technical side. The codes not working is probably Nexon's fault, but it still makes people mad at hidden-street instead. We should give thought to how we don't fall into a similar pit.

The other two have been addressed in our event since October, but this one is 100% Nexon.
All we can do is trust Nexon that they do or will work at the appointed time and if they don't that Nexon will make it right.

We are keeping very careful track of who wins what on our system so that in a worst case scenario we can identify what needs to be fixed and who needs to be reimbursed, let's just hope HS did similar.

I don't know what answers everyone put exactly, but are we even sure that "Cygnus" vs "Empress Cygnus" was the problem which disqualified a bunch of people? Since:



And I'm sure that I put in "Nautilus Harbor" instead of "Nautilus" and still got the code, so I would guess that there is some leeway on the format of the answers.

True. Most people just screwed up at the Bob the Snail question I believe.

I still have no idea what #5 is. Anyone help?