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[Graham.]

No it doesn't. Wikipedia at its core is player-controlled development. This game is a reduced kind of Wikipedia. Saying that it belongs in its own class of problems because it changes "more slowly" doesn't mean anything. In the game people earn the right to make changes. Other people are expected to undo bad changes. The entire thing slowly develops over time. That's just like Wikipedia.

I think the game is a good idea. I don't think there is anything wrong with it. My point is that Wikipedia has probably done a better job of ensuring that changes are productive. I'm sure that his game will see some good results. All it needs is for the developer to step in if a problem arises. Community-first development isn't a bad way to do things. You give something to the players, see how they deal with it, then make changes based on what you've learned. A lot of the time that process beats guessing, especially in this case where the community has so much control.

The idea that "anyone" can change a Wikipedia article is an illusion. If you go make a bad change it will be undone in a few hours. Pushing a change into Wikipedia is actually a pretty intense process. There are all these layers of safeties and checks to make sure everything adds up in the end. You have to learn your way through that community to become a contributor in the same way that you have to learn your way through this game to make a change. The difference is that the Wikipedia community is multi-layered. In it experienced contributors are in a much better position to guide the changes of newer members. They don't have to re-prove themselves every cycle.

That means that the product, the wiki, always steadily marches towards a better state. That's not a given with this game. There are too many unknowns. If players have enough power to change the game in interesting ways that benefit it, then they have the equivalent power to ruin it to the same degree. If the changes are small then they are irrellevant. If they are large then they have to be managed. Communities aren't magical. They have to be watched and sustained like anything. Either the developer does it manually or creates tools to let the community do it themselves. If he wants to do it on his own there is a strict upper bound on how big the community can grow or how complex the game and its changes can become.

Everything starts somewhere. This game is somewhere. I wasn't criticizing it. I was just drawing a parallel. It's only the stimulating games that are worth talking about. This game is one step towards the future. I'm curious to see how it develops.

[C.A. Sinner]

it to 4chan or Wikipedia (where anyone can add anything all the time) misses the point.

I meant 4chan in terms of content, not structure. I understand (and like) the concept behind the game.

[Chef Boyardee]

This is the coolest idea ever. I'm going to check this out!! Thanks for the heads up!

[st33d]

Bit buggy. Item keys didn't respond and had a few crashes.

I like its coffee break roguelike approach. I could probably get into it when it's a bit more stable.

Haven't identified with any of the symbols at all. If I see "H" I instantly think, might be a hippo, probably a hobgoblin. In this it feels like I'm being attacked by an algebra equation lead by Prince.

[Blademasterbobo]

what are typical high scores? i'm not sure if i have the high score cuz of when i played it, or if my score is actually good

[iffi]

Interesting concept (I wonder if there are other genres it could be successfully applied to); I'm genuinely interested in how this turns out in the long run.

I'm glad to see that he's working on adding support for private servers - I think it'd be pretty cool if, for instance, we had a TIGSource server for this.

[C.A. Sinner]

what are typical high scores? i'm not sure if i have the high score cuz of when i played it, or if my score is actually good

last time i played they were around 17-25k i believe.

[tone]

what are typical high scores? i'm not sure if i have the high score cuz of when i played it, or if my score is actually good

You can check the high scores here: http://decisionproblem.com/mercury/. Honestly, the scores vary greatly depending on your ability to discover and exploit new items. If you look at the current top five, I'm sitting at number one with 1,000,000+ and closely trailed by one other player. The third and fourth place scores are tier 2 and in the 300,000 range. Number five hasn't even broken 80,000.

I suspect these scores will even out a bit as people learn how to effectively combine new elements, which (IMHO) is half the fun. I can't explain what a blast I've had with Mercury since I discovered this post. Thanks Jason, Derek, and--most of all--James.

[Blademasterbobo]

when i posted that, i had the #1 spot

[tone]

when i posted that, i had the #1 spot

Are you Kevin!? There is someone sitting around 2,000,000+ right now and has yet to die. I think I could probably go much bigger than I did just now, but I got a bit of a bad luck start around level 34.

[Blademasterbobo]

no, i only had like 60k or something. that's why i was asking about what scores usually are.

i think it was a bad idea to give a character regeneration. it's too bad that can't be balanced out without someone just erasing the entire character / giving up their chance to make something, characters are never going to be balanced like that. that you can pretty much play forever if you get past a certain point cuz of the regeneration is stupid.

also, what happened to the goblins and stuff? why are there only like 3 enemies right now?

[keo]

well... that was dum, there's a game breaking inventory, I got to level 54 before I got an error

[Blademasterbobo]

ok so the game is totally broken right now, balance wise. the only reason the scores aren't infinitely large is cuz there's a bug that keeps you from going past level 59. 

[keo]

steroids need to be modded

[Blademasterbobo]

maybe, but i think those are far from the only issue, and whatever gets added next should be something that would deal with similar problems in the future. (because if it lasts for any length of time, issues like this will almost certainly crop up again.) regen needs to be removed from the one character, it's too overpowered. and there needs to be a limit on how far you can go in the dungeon, maybe level 60 or something. (that way if another exploit like this pops up, the high scores won't just be "whoever had the most time over the weekend.") it's really too bad that the regen thing can't be fixed without someone giving up their chance to add something to the game. there needs to be a system for small balance changes that doesn't affect your ability to add something to the game.

one idea i had would be to make an ability for monsters that lets them hit you through all of your defense, and another ability that temporarily reverses your bonuses... something like that would counter most simple exploits in the future.