Companion Assist Points Explained

[This blog page has been retained here due to historical reasons, but up-to-date rules of The Adventure Gamer can be found on a separate page].

I’ve been talking about setting some clear criteria around The Adventure Gamer for a while now, but with the games on my list for 1988 coming to an end, I finally got motivated to put some thought into it. The suggestions I made in the last Weekly Poll Discussion post led me to believe that the readers are for the most part interested in some of my ideas for making the blog more interactive, so with that in mind, I’ve set about listing ways that readers can earn Companion Assist Points, how they can use those points, and I’ve also spent some time putting together a list of definitions to help anyone that’s unsure or new to the site. I will somehow make all this stuff easily accessible on the site and as usual, would love to hear your feedback. As I’ve said all along, The Adventure Gamer was started first and foremost to celebrate adventure games, but with building a community of likeminded gamers in mind.

It's important to note that you don't need to care about or understand any of what I'm about to say. If you just want to read about my struggles and victories in adventure games, then this can all safely be ignored.

DEFINITIONS

Hint – a suggestion or clue that might assist in solving a puzzle

Spoiler – an outright explanation of how to solve a puzzle

Request for Assistance – where The Trickster asks for assistance in solving a puzzle. These will be clearly marked in future so that there is no confusion

Companion Assist Points – points given to readers for assisting The Trickster or contributing to the blog site in various ways

ROT13 – a cypher encryption system that allows people to leave hints or spoilers that require decryption to read. Encryption and decryption can be done at www.rot13.com

Potential Game – a game that is listed on Moby Games as part of the adventure genre (excluding interactive fiction games) and has at least 10 votes, or appears on the Wikipedia Notable Graphic Adventure Games list.

Accepted Game – a game that automatically goes on the playlist because it satisfies three criteria.

1.      It has at least 20 votes on Moby Games

2.      It is listed on the Wikipedia List of Notable Graphic Adventure Games

3.      It is undeniably a graphic adventure game. This is of course entirely subjective.

Borderline Game – a game that satisfies at least two of the above criteria, but not all three.

Disregarded Game– a game that satisfies only one of the above criteria.

EARNING COMPANION ASSIST POINTS

There are numerous ways to earn companion assist points and I will no doubt introduce more over time. Below are ways to earn points as of now:

20 POINTS

1. Giving clearly marked (and separate) hint and spoiler that directly relate to a Request for Assistance, coded in ROT13.

Example:

• Unicorn Hint: Jung zvtug lbh arrq gb evqr n havpbea?
• Unicorn Spoiler: Lbh arrq trg n oevqyr gb evqr gur havpbea juvpu vf uvqqra ba n qrfregrq vfynaq. Gb trg gb gur vfynaq, lbh'yy arrq gb trg vafvqr gur junyr.

2. Filling in The Adventure Gamer “What’s Your Story?” questionnaire with the intention of your responses being shared with the community. Points will be attributed at the time of the post, not the time of the questionnaire completion. I will post the What's Your Story? questionnaire in the next day or two.

10 POINTS

1. Giving a clearly marked hint / spoiler that is not directly related to a Request for Assistance to assist The Trickster, coded in ROT13. A reader would only do this if it's clear that The Trickster has hit a dead end or missed a required item and therefore needs assistance without knowing it. Please note that I will no longer award any reader that posts hints or spoilers for puzzles in advance, or for which I do not yet require any assistance. You're welcome to discuss spoilers in ROT13 at any time, but please mark them as Spoiler - Do Not Read Trickster.

Example:

• Whale Spoiler: V'z nsenvq lbh'ir qrnq raqrq lbhefrys. Gurer'f ab jnl bhg bs gur junyr nf lbh'er zvffvat na vgrz.

2. Assisting The Trickster with any technical challenges he faces while attempting to play a game.

3. Contributing suggestions and ideas for ways to improve or build on The Adventure Gamer blog site.

4. Correctly predicting the rating that The Trickster will give the game he is about to commence playing. These predictions are to be made on the Introduction post for the game, and must be in place prior to the first gameplay post for that game.

5. A reader can bet 10 of their current Companion Assist points that The Trickster will require assistance to solve a particular puzzle in the game he is about to commence playing. These bets need to be placed on the introduction post for the game, and must be in place prior to the first gameplay post for the game. Once a reader has made a bet regarding a particular puzzle, no other reader can replicate that bet (so one bet per puzzle). Any bets must be made in ROT13.

6. Solving one of The Trickster’s riddles that appear in his posts from time to time. These will not always be clearly marked.

7. Bringing adventure game related Kickstarter projects to the attention of The Trickster (only games requiring $50000 or more will gain the full 10 points).

5 POINTS

1. Answering any question asked by The Trickster in a post regarding a part of the game he has already solved or is curious about.

2. Being the first to comment about new adventure games on GOG or Steam, and any adventure game related sales on those sites.

LOSING COMPANION ASSIST POINTS

It stands to reason that if Companion Assist Points can be earned, then they might also be lost. The one surefire way to lose points is to post a hint or spoiler regarding a section of the game that The Trickster hasn't yet reached or solved without encrypting it in ROT13 first. I'm going to be very strict on this as quite a few spoilers have started to enter the comments section of posts. If I don't work to minimise them then I will not be able to read any comments before finishing a game and therefore not be able to interact with the readers.

USING COMPANION ASSIST POINTS

Companion Assist points can be used to add games to the playlist that otherwise would not be there. Note that this will not affect the Companion Assist Points Leaderboard as I will keep a tally of how many points each reader has earned in total as well as how many they still have available to use. This will be displayed in the following format: Fenrus - 40 Points (20), meaning Fenrus has earned 40 points, but he only has 20 remaining to spend on adding games to the list.

For Borderline games, individual readers can spend 50 of their Companion Assist points to get a game added to the playlist.

For Borderline games, readers can pool 100 Companion Assist points to get a game added to the playlist.

For Disregardedgames, readers can pool 200 Companion Assist points to get a game added to the list.