FAQ
?____
What is this I don't even?
This is my
charity / giveaway thread, wherein
everyone has a chance to receive lots of gold and/or awesome items. I created it because hunting through the charity forum for deserving people became a bit too time-consuming and tedious, and because I felt indecisive a lot. I wanted to go for something a bit less arbitrary.
And so, this charity
operates on chance, employing a
slot-machine as well as other competitions and games to determine who gets stuff. All based on
the charity mini-site, and with
no entrance fee whatsoever.
So hopefully, you can have fun here, and maybe win something while doing so. Perhaps you'd also like to participate in the friendly little mini-community that has blossomed in this thread!
?____
But why 'Quantum?'
In picking random recipients, I could've just gone with the standard format: use Gaia's pseudo-random dice-roll or number generator, and pick a winner as soon as someone rolls right. But that's just kind of lame. Instead, I decided to use
the services of Fourmilab in Switzerland. They use the process of
radioactive decay as a random number generator which, as far as I understand it, is
truly random, as opposed to a computer which can only use complex algorithms to try and simulate randomness. (This because, according to quantum mechanics, no one can predict exactly when one of their caesium atoms is going to decay.) My code occasionally connects to their server, requests some of those deliciously random bits, and uses those to decide things like results of giving the slot-machine a spin. From there, quantum mechanics sort of became the theme of the whole thing.
?____
Why would you do this?!
Lulz? It may seem like overkill, but I'm too huge a geek to really care: it simply begged to be coded. :3 I also created
the mini-site especially for the charity. This is convenient, as you can simply
enter your Gaia username there, and participate immediately, without having to wait and hope that I'll find some vague form you posted on page n of this thread. Lastly, it was a fun project for me to experiment with some new stuff, like the jQuery tools library.
?____
My username? Is that safe?
I'm glad you asked!
The site only asks for your username - nothing else. If I could hack your account with that, none of you'd be safe to begin with. XD Seriously though - and perhaps a bit redundantly - just don't enter your Gaia password there, or anywhere other than Gaiaonline, and you should be fine.
?____
And often are these random bits fetched?
Whenever someone observes the site, they change state. Kind of like
quantum entanglement, except not.
?____
Or like schrödinger's cat!
We do not speak of it here.
sweatdrop My cat does not approve of that experiment..
?____
Okaaaay... So.. wait, how does this work now?
The main game right now is
Quantum Slots. A round of slots lasts
4 days, as you can see on the countdown. Each day, you get
100 credits which you can use to increase your score. The person which the highest score at the end wins the prize!
?____
Do I have to spend all my credits in one sitting?
Naw, you can leave at anytime. When you log in later, your score and credits will be loaded and you can continue where you left off, even if you come back another day (within the same round).
?____
And how are the scores calculated?
Please refer to the handy-dandy diagram:
PROTIP: I'm guessing that consistently getting 4 Quantum Orbs is probably a pretty solid strategy.
?____
What kind of prizes are we talking about
It varies.
smile You can see what the current prize is on the banner on the first page, or next to your score and credts on the slot-machine.
Usually I'll aim for an item around 500K. It isn't unheard of for them to exceed a million in worth, though! And if I don't have an item ready, I'll just go with pure gold.
?____
Sweet! But what if I'm in second place? Or dead last? *sadface*
There there, fret not:
everyone in the top ten wins something.
Here, let me break it down for you:
1. 500K in gold (or a special 500K+ item)
2. 100K
3. 100K
4. 100K
5. 100K
6. 20K
7. 20K
8. 20K
9. 20K
10. 20K
In other words, there's
at least a million worth of prizes each round!
?____
Ohnoes! I just found out about this now, and this round is already on day 2! D:
Don't worry. You'll get the credits from the day before, too. Everyone gets an equal chance.
?____
And do my unused credits carry over to the next round?
Yes! Wait.
No. So spin LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL, dawg.
?____
My luck is terrible; I'll never win..
Cheer up emo kid! Your spins are left up to the fickle whims of the infinitesimal: you may end up the new #1 in a few spins. If the universe hates you, though, you could consider working on your karma, or visualize yourself winning really, really hard!
?____
Yay! Will that really work?
HAHAHA. No.
?____
It's hopeless, then. *le-sigh*
Chin up, hey? There's always next round. And I sometimes host other competitions, games, and giveaways, too!
?____
May I enter with my mule accounts, too?
I've given this some thought, and while I'm a laid-back kind of guy and don't see much harm in increasing one's odds a little bit, just know that
I do have ways to detect people using mule accounts. They're not foolproof, but if I happen to catch
egregious abuse of this
the offenders might be disqualified. This isn't supposed to be a who-has-the-most-Gaia-accounts competition, after all..
?____
Nobody actually reads down this far. Just your mom.
Hi mom!
