Who Watches the Watchers - Forum for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe & Similar Works » Gotta catch 'em all

Loki · 10/05/2020 5:41 am

Been thinking about this a little, and trying to come up with some ground rules for this game. Feel free to debate the rules I've come up with - I'm open to adding, removing or amending.

1. I initially thought we might only do one identifying game at a time. I'm rethinking that - I think each poster can only have one active at a time, but we don't need to wait for another person's game to begin to start our own. I can have one game going, zuckyd can have another one running concurrently, etc.
2. You don't need to be able to identify everyone in a picture to put it forward. In other words, if you've found a picture and thought "who the heck are all these characters?" you can put it up as a game, and use the group mind to fill in the blanks. In such instances the original poster is also allowed to start playing at identifying characters, though I think it would be fair to leave it maybe a day before they jump in, to give others a chance first.
3. Obviously, if the original poster doesn't know the identities of all the characters in a given picture, that picture/game might never fully finish. In those instances we'll count the game over for the purposes of being allowed to start a new one after a week. People can still try to identify anyone not yet named, but the person who started the game can begin a new one.
4. Guessers don't have to be able to post a picture of the character they are identifying, but it helps.
5. Numbered key images, like the one in the Where's Wall-E? thread, are helpful, but again not expected. That said, if anyone on the board has the skillset and patience to take the group shots and make silhouette keys, please feel free to do so.

Andy E. Nystrom · 10/05/2020 6:01 am

One more thought on my end: since these are likely to results in a lot of threads, would you like me to create a separate sub-folder a la Indices to the Handbooks in the Raw Data section? It won't affect which thread is shown as the Most Recent, but it will keep these similar threads grouped together.

Loki · 10/05/2020 6:05 am

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
One more thought on my end: since these are likely to results in a lot of threads, would you like me to create a separate sub-folder a la Indices to the Handbooks in the Raw Data section? It won't affect which thread is shown as the Most Recent, but it will keep these similar threads grouped together.

Sure, that makes sense. Thanks.

Andy E. Nystrom · 10/05/2020 6:51 am

Loki wrote:
Sure, that makes sense. Thanks.

Okay, done!

Loki · 10/05/2020 8:03 am

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
Loki wrote:
Sure, that makes sense. Thanks.
Okay, done!

Don't forget to provide moderator privileges, please.

zuckyd1 · 10/05/2020 9:50 am

Are players allowed to do any research to try and figure out characters they don't recognize?

Loki · 10/05/2020 10:31 am

zuckyd1 wrote:
Are players allowed to do any research to try and figure out characters they don't recognize?

Yes, I'd say so. The only thing I would say is that they should not specifically go looking for the group shots, as others may have already worked out who some of the individuals in the shot are.

Take for example Where's Wall-E? There is a full key already in existence for that, so obviously someone could easily hunt it down, but doing so would spoil the fun. On the other hand, if you think you recognise a robot but can't recall the name, by all means go and check Wikipedia for the movie or show you think the robot came from to find out the name. If you want to try and identify the robot (or characters in other group shots) by using search engines (e.g. input "movie robot" or by putting down a description to see what turns up), that's cool too. The only thing you mustn't do is go clicking on any links to pages using the actual group shot, where others might have started trying to identify characters already.

Andy E. Nystrom · 10/05/2020 5:54 pm

Loki wrote:
Don't forget to provide moderator privileges, please.

Fixed for you and zuckyd1!

Good that certain research is okay. I confess that when I was hunting down an image for TV Marvin, I spotted an image for movie Marvin, so that reminded me what he looked like. The TV version is a lot more distinct looking I think.

Loki · 10/05/2020 11:42 pm

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
Loki wrote:
Don't forget to provide moderator privileges, please.
Fixed for you and zuckyd1!

Thanks!

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
Good that certain research is okay. I confess that when I was hunting down an image for TV Marvin, I spotted an image for movie Marvin, so that reminded me what he looked like.

That's fine - if someone comes across a given robot by chance, no harm, no foul. It's actively using the group shot itself, or someone else's list, that is off limits. I mean, we can't stop anyone doing so, but where would be the fun in it?

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
The TV version is a lot more distinct looking I think.

I agree. I've always preferred the TV version.

Andy E. Nystrom · 10/06/2020 10:16 am

Loki wrote:
Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
The TV version is a lot more distinct looking I think.
I agree. I've always preferred the TV version.

I think the TV show is superior in general, not just in Marvin's looks, except in a few fx areas like Zaphod's second head. When I watched the movie I kept hearing the TV line delivery in my head right before it was said in the movie, and the movie delivery was never quite as funny despite the talent at work.

Loki · 10/06/2020 10:45 am

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
Loki wrote:
Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
The TV version is a lot more distinct looking I think.
I agree. I've always preferred the TV version.

I think the TV show is superior in general, not just in Marvin's looks, except in a few fx areas like Zaphod's second head.

As Mark Wing-Davey, Zaphod's actor, is happy to point out, the head cost more than he did. But you are right, it's one of the weak points of the TV version. That said, I still prefer that head to the chin-thing in the movie version. Urgh. And yes, the TV version is better all round than the movie.

Andy E. Nystrom · 10/19/2020 7:10 am

One more rule I suggest is, whoever posts an image in the general thread gets first crack at creating a challenge unless they specifically relinquish any or all the images. If that's agreeable:

For the original Hembeck image I posted, since there are some characters I don't know, and because some are a bit hard to number, I relinquish first crack at that image.

zuckyd1 · 10/19/2020 7:15 am

Everyone's allowed to use any of my posts.

Andy E. Nystrom · 6/10/2022 4:05 pm

I'd like to propose a slight amendment to the rules. As we've seen with Arrowverse Part 3, a round can potentially stall. What I propose for cases where that happens, someone can start a new round and people can still answer the old round if they so desire; it just won't be the active round that the person who started both rounds is focused on. Does that make sense?

Basically I don't want to reveal so many answers at the end of the day Wed when round 3 ends but I also recognize that things have completely stalled.

Loki · 6/11/2022 3:05 am

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
I'd like to propose a slight amendment to the rules. As we've seen with Arrowverse Part 3, a round can potentially stall. What I propose for cases where that happens, someone can start a new round and people can still answer the old round if they so desire; it just won't be the active round that the person who started both rounds is focused on. Does that make sense?

Basically I don't want to reveal so many answers at the end of the day Wed when round 3 ends but I also recognize that things have completely stalled.

Yeah, when a round stalls I think it's okay to leave it open in case someone wants to come along later (rather than just answering it all yourself, which seems a waste of your effort putting it together) and work on it, and also okay to start a new round rather than being stuck on the one round forever.

Andy E. Nystrom · 9/24/2024 6:06 pm

This is a self-imposed rule and I'm not asking for others to be bound by it: for any of my collages, once six months have passed since the last guesses, people can ask me to reveal up to 10 answers per day (per person), as long as specific numbers are requested. Note that if a character is identified, the clock restarts. So right now the final Marvel collage will be available for this as of October 20, unless any guesses are made in the meantime, until such a time as another character is ID'd. I reserve the right to decline a request if I deem a character to be too well known (e.g. 385 in Bond part 2). The intent is to clear away obscure characters or at least obscure versions of the character.