Friday, November 9, 2012

The Questions Three, Tolle Edition

Every once in a very long while, an eagle-eyed miner will read the Code carefully enough to discover an obscure provision that allows them mining rights for 24 hours if they are able to answer my Questions Three. The Questions Three are also one of the options for gaining the right to engage me in a 1v1 duel, but they have been invoked only once before for mining rights. I think most miners would prefer to either pay the 10 million isk for 365 days of mining, or dig in their heels and join the resistance.


That's why I was surprised when ice miner Kallie Torres expressed an interest in the Questions Three. It came out of the blue.


First I needed to confirm that she was indeed asking for a chance to win a 24-hour mining pass, as opposed to dueling me.


And just like that, it was on. The lights in Tolle dimmed, and dramatic ambient music played in the background.


The first Question potentially spelled disaster for Kallie. On no less than three separate occasions, this question had been asked before. Each time it was answered incorrectly.


The fourth time was the charm. Kallie broke the curse of the Amazon! She misspelled the river's name, but it was close enough to count.


When it comes to the 20-second time limit, the timestamp on my chat log is determinative. Kallie managed to barely eke it out. Some would say 20 seconds is just long enough for someone to google an answer, depending on how well the question (and its wording) lends itself to googling. I think the time limit is probably just enough to ward off googling in most cases.

Whether or not Kallie googled for the answer, I cannot say. In any event, she became the first to advance to the second of the Questions. The difficulty level increases dramatically at this point.


The question was particularly challenging for Kallie, whom I assume is not American. According to my chat log's timestamp, she took a little too long to respond.


After such a promising start, it was an anti-climactic finish. No one wants to lose on time.


Unlike most others who invoke the Questions Three, Kallie showed grace in spite of her disappointment.


She was surprised to learn that her predecessors were poor sports.


Kallie's positive attitude earned her the respect of Tolle.


It's the feel-good story of the latter half of the week! Like a Shakespearean comedy with a happy ending, Kallie won the right to mine for 365 days. The New Order and its system of just laws gained much prestige that day.

11 comments:

  1. Ahahahhahaha Prencleeve? Ahahahaha!!!

    Well, I guess he finally got to be "cool". The fact that a 13 year old is your biggest supporter says a lot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Order doth not discriminate.

      Delete
  2. This story warms my heart, and makes think that Hisec miners will one day be able to live with us and support the New Order in all it's glory.
    Amen,
    -DŠ

    ReplyDelete
  3. What is the N-Word .. maybe Noob ?
    What planet/system/region in New Eden is this river 'amazone' exactly ?
    President of America .. is this a secred code for the Minmatar Gov ?

    I'm realy confused....

    I think using RL facts isn't a valid theme for your questions of 3.. are there no trivial facts to know in New Eden ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Real life facts are more likely to be known by the one invoking the test of wisdom. As the Supreme Protector is just & fair, he has provided questions that are most likely to be known to a person. It is well known that miners aren't very involved with the community & mostly aren't aware that there is background lore to EVE.

      Delete
    2. Excerpt from Code about the test of wisdom:

      "Test of Wisdom. Correctly answer the Supreme Protector's Questions Three. Each question must be answered within 20 seconds. The Questions Three will be different for each miner each day. Note that invoking the 24 hour mining pass provision of the Code is distinct from invoking the Test of Wisdom."

      According to the Code RL questions are very valid theme as any other theme infact, so pls don't come with some crazy ideas to whine to James to nerf the Code, we already have alotsa carebears whining to CCP.

      kthxby

      Delete
  4. Maybe someday we can use the Eve lore for the Questions tree, as we get more and more Hisec miners involved with the game.
    Hope for the best.
    -DŠ

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  5. >> Real life facts are more likely to be known by the one invoking the test of wisdom.
    said the one ..
    >> so pls don't come with some crazy ideas to whine to James to nerf the Code
    said someone other ..

    What is wrong to asking for Tibus Heth instead of Obama ?

    >> we already have alotsa carebears whining to CCP.
    Is asking James 315 to focus more on ingame facts any kind of whining ?

    No, No and a third No. I don't want to see any nerf on the Code but more roleplaying elements.

    Using RL facts brings some problems... 'N-Word' isn't part of any english-german dict (even the question is very easy at all), I'know the egg laying mamals (all three of them) but not the english names. Maybe I'm a sapce nazi from the dark side of the moon and don't know anything happens the last 67 on earth but while I'm playing eve (living in New Eden) i should know the background story of New Eden.

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    Replies
    1. I agree, using a background from Eve Online for questions it's nice but also imo it's a limitation (aka nerf) so i prefer the questions to not be limited just from Eve. For example my favourite question was this classical:

      Feathers or lead?

      Try to use this question as a last chance for a guy you just catch in a mission, it will be hilarious as hell.

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    2. Again, a lot of people that play EVE are not aware of any background story. James is providing a fair avenue to successfully past the test. Using EVE lore would restrict potential success to people that sperg on the story (Which are unlikely to be people who mine all day).

      Delete
    3. Maybe there is a new Square on the miner bingo in the future :"Sorry I'm not AFK but reading >>The Empyrean Age<< while mining"

      At all telling the Lord protector what he should do is the Job of a Priest. Apart from Hoax is a priest, better than preaching to James is offering a new set of Questions.

      I always looking for creative ways to support the New Order...


      Delete

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