Cream of the Crop 12/Cream of the Crop 12 (Part II)/Cream of the Crop 12 (Part II).iso/BBS/VSYSOP2.ZIP/VSYSOP.FAQ

Text File | 1994-10-30 | 59.5 KB | 1,340 lines

VSYSOP.FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Questions and Answers from the beta test users while in development on the
iFX Group bulletin board system and other systems around the world.

Last update: 10/15/94
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Q: I've been playing this same game now for yeah on a month or so (right?
seems that long)... when does it reset?  In other words, how do you know when
you've won?

A: I have been running both hobby and commercial boards for over 10 years now.
I too would like to know when it will end and I will know if I won. So far I
have not seen an end to the real life version. If I do see one you can bet
that I'll have an update to the program out to allow you to reach it!


Q: It took away 5 real actions along with the rest of my employee actions.

A: Sometimes the employees make a few mistakes or do something the "wrong" way
or leave before completing their work and it takes a few of your actions to
fix it. Overall they do try to help more than they hurt.


Q: Does it really take 8 employees to run the virus scan?

A: I assume that you are talking about the employee actions. Yes the employees
never can work as fast or efficiently as the employer. That is why it takes
more actions for them to do something that only takes you one action. Things
like buying modems normally end up being 1:1 though. Try to use the employees
for that instead of the day to day stuff.


Q: How many hours does each action equal?

A: There is no real way to figure this. I just put 100 (or whatever) as the
number of things that a sysop in this game could do in one day. When he hires
employees they normally don't do as much work (per action) as the main sysop.
This is why it takes the employees a few more actions to do something you can
do in only one action. I think the real question should be: how many things do
you do in one day?


Q: Why does it take the employees so much longer to type the word scan or
whatever to run the virus scan.

A: It is not just typing the command, but opening up all of the uploads (or
whatever) and scanning them too while running the programs to make sure that
they are not Trojans or bombs.


Q: What does my Sysop Education mean? It says "No public, no personal."

A: There are two different kinds of education: what you learn from someone
else (like in a school) and what you learn on your own either by experience or
asking for one time assistance. This is an indicator of what level you are in
each of these two areas.


Q: What is the range of number for "the friendly game?"

A: It should say on the prompt that it is around 1 - 99. It should be about a
50% chance of being higher or lower than the number it picks.


Q: What happens if I take a class that requires more actions than I have?

A: It will take them all away at the same time and if you don't have enough
for today you will go into negative numbers. Every day after that you call
into the game you will get 100 (or whatever the sysop sets) more actions added
to your negative number until you reach normal numbers. Your employees still
get their normal number of actions each day. So you will still be able to play
the game.


Q: If you end up in jail, is it all over and you have to start over with
nothing again, or what happens?

A: That depends on what they catch you doing. The first few times they should
only "slap your hand" and take away some actions and give you a fine. After
that they get tired and start doing worse things.


Q: How much education is enough?

A: Is there such a thing? The education is compared to the security of the
other system and whoever is higher wins the fight. But even if you don't win
the fight it will still take a chink out of their security which allows you to
break them down a little at a time. Another part of the calculation is how
large your system is compared to their system. It should be a little easier to
plunder larger systems and harder to plunder smaller ones.


Q: On the education, why not add something like teach yourself or ask around
about stuff.

A: That is possible, but it uses a lot more time. Are you willing to put out
that many actions?


Q: Well I guess it would take more time, but not always.  A lot of the time
they are just teaching stuff you already know half of the time.  Since there
is no way they can tell what you have learned before.

A: This is true in schools, but tutors are more customized. If you spend your
time and money right you can learn a lot more from a tutor faster than you can
with a full school.


Q: Why do 18 workers do the same as 23? Should it take less actions to work if
you have more.

A: Right now it is because of the union rules. Actually, some of the employees
are off on coffee break or on the phone talking to their friends.


Q: Yeah, it might take 1 employee 10 times as long to do something as you, but
when you have 2000 employees, they should do it (2000/10) 200 times faster
than you.

A: That is assuming that (1) all employees work as hard as they can all the
time, and (2) all employees are present and accounted for at all times other
than pay days. With that many employees you can be sure that there is a lot of
wasted time due to idle talk or whatever. Then you have those who have to take
the day off because their kid is sick or doctor/dental appointments. Or worse
yet - jury duty which could drag on while you are still required by the union
to pay them. Oh, and did it mention anything about sick days? I think it is
strange that lots of employees tend to be sick on nice sunny warm days and not
sick on cold rainy days.


Q: I did some classes, but my education did not increase. I got a B. Do I have
to get an A?

A: That is only one class. You need to complete at least a few to get a
certificate that shows on the <R>eport option. How many schools do you know
that give diplomas after each class you take?


Q: Shouldn't your employees be able to install all of your security stuff, and
just take you an action or two to put in the passwords or whatever?

A: That seems to me that the whole idea behind security is to keep people out.
If all of your employees knew what went into the building they might be talked
into leaking some of that information to someone else. And if you fire or made
an employee mad that information is more likely to leak than not.


Q: Isn't $5mil for a child prodigy tutor just a BIT high?

A: If he has something to sell that you are willing to buy then what price is
too high? Anyway, he already hacked into your bank account and knows how much
you can afford. Try spending some of your money and look poor before you visit
him.


Q: On the hacking thing, when it says it is to hard for you to understand,
will you be able to understand it if you get some more education?

A: Exactly! The more education you have the easier it is to learn and pick up
things like that.


Q: Why can't I hire smarter employees that work as fast as I can?

A: The only problem with hiring smarter employees is that they normally end
up starting their own BBS after they get some experience from running your
system. You can "hire" other sysops. In fact you could buy other players
actions off of them (through net mail) and end up with loads of actions.


Q: If I take a class with the actions from other sysops, isn't that like them
learning something for me? I don't know.  Maybe you shouldn't be able to take
classes with other peoples actions that you buy from them.

A: I'll have to think about this a little more. If they help you on your BBS
(allowing you to save your own actions for school) that should be OK. Trying
to keep track of who's actions can be used may be more trouble than it is
worth.


Q: How high can the education get?

A: There is no real limit on that, but there is the problem of the knowledge
you have becoming old or outdated. This can make things hard for you to keep
up to date if you don't watch your report.


Q: What happened to the hack option? I did it, but I could not pick which bbs
to hack and I lost half my money and 50 actions.

A: I think you need a little more education. Trying to hack or break into an
office without an education is like trying to rob the police.


Q: OK, but I thought we could pick which board we wanted to hack.

A: When you get a little more education you CAN pick who you want to hack.
Each person is different (depending on the education history), but you should
be able to pick the board to hack after you get 2 or 3 education points.
Sometimes it may even be less.


Q: Can you send employee actions through netmail?

A: No. The only actions you can send through netmail are your own personal
actions. The employees don't like going over to someone else's place.


Q: I've already taken 6 classes, and I still don't show an education.

A: Here is how it stands right now; school classes take several hits (like a
semester) to get 1 point on the education scale. Tutors can be a little faster
on this because they can customize the lesson not to cover what you already
know. They are also a bit more expensive to learn something valuable. The idea
behind this education thing anyway is to eat up some of these HUGE bank
accounts that some players are getting, which in my personal opinion is also
the case in the real world schools. The data file only has 19 digits for the
bank account and I have to do something to hack the numbers down to size.


Q: Is the hacker log fingerprint too hard to figure out? I don't want to come
right out and say who the hacker was, but I also don't want to make it
impossible.

A: Well, I haven't tried to figure it out, but since it told me that it
contained the number 11, I would suppose that was a Net number. Course, the
next step would be to figure out the node on the net, if I have this figured
right.

Q: If, for example I was to guess correctly, or even incorrectly, what would
be my next step? Go to the officials and report my suspicion? Or hack the
hackers?

A: You are very close. Actually the number is the "BBS" or "node" number of
the hacker. Now you know the whole story. The next step is up to you. Since
there is no real "finger print" that you can use in court, be your own judge.
It should work out to about the same actions to strengthen your security and
caller id or hack their system. About the worst thing you can do to them takes
two people. One person hacks all their users and the other hacks all their
modems. That will keep them out of the picture for a long enough time for the
two attacking players to really build up their own protection.


Q: Why not have it to where you can set someone up, by leaving a false trace?

A: You can. Use the Calling Card option and you can put in any BBS number you
want. It should put a scare in some new players to see that message pop up on
their screen. And since you only use a few actions each time you can "hack"
more boards in one day.


Q: So is it just to scare the users? It really doesn't do anything?

A: It is actually the best way to team hack a big player. The last person
through just leaves a fake trace to cover everyone else's trail. If the team
is honest then everyone can spread the goods around when they get back to
their own BBS.


Q: Is one security level equal to 10 education points, or what?

A: There is an average for all of the players that is between 5 and 9
education points to compare to every 1 security point. The actual number for
each player depends on their personal experience, the freshness of their
education and the size of their BBS.


Q: Can't we use color boxes to fake out the CallerID while hacking?

A: The tech fight continues! Where there is a block there are always ways
around it. Even phreakers have blocks that other, better, phreakers can see
through to the original caller. The more complex the security the more complex
the hacker. I am trying to keep a balance in the game.


Q: Your education really wouldn't help you much with breaking in. I mean they
don't have a breaking and entering 101. BTW Wouldn't 2000 modems be a little
heavy? And wouldn't some of them break on the way?

A: The way I see it, if you are smart enough (read education) then you can
figure out how to get into different security systems. As for pulling 2000
modems off of someone else's computer, I agree that some may break on the way.
Part of the education thing is that you would be smart enough to rent a truck
before you went to visit a big BBS. :)  Should that take an extra action?


Q: What good is insurance when it says it is not good for 3 months?

A: Ah, yes. You must be talking about the new insurance salesman. You have
insurance don't you? They will pay off sooner than that, but the amount is not
as high. Anyway, when you make a claim they tend to close your account. You
can always go back to the salesman and get another policy, but it may cost
more the second or third time around.


Q: Could I have gun for the break in option?

A: Well, I was aiming more for burglary than robbery. But I guess there is
little difference in a game like this. Everything doesn't have to be exactly
realistic, I mean it IS a game! Right?


Q: It takes 100 actions to send a virus?

A: It takes the same amount of actions to hack into a board no matter what you
do to it when you are there. Hacking is hacking in that respect. There is a
break on the number of actions for the simple stuff anyway.


Q: It says that breaking is bad for a novice, but since the people who are not
playing anymore have no security, I was going to take their stuff.

A: Don't think that all of the old players will be an easy hit. The police
protect everyone and sometimes they just happen to be in the right place at
the right time.


Q: Do you mean that you will loose some of that education after a while?  I
mean will you have level 200 public one day, and only 100 the next or what?

A: As is the case with most everything you "learn" it will become old news and
not worth much. The education points should begin to age after a while and
drop off. I don't think that you will drop 100 in one day, but that may depend
on how fast you learn new things.


Q: If it took me one day to learn it, will it just take one day for it to
become useless?

A: That is possible. The rate is limited to a percentage of how old the
education is and howw many times you use that education. I am not sure if it
will try and cut all of your education at one time or not. I have not tested
that part of the game yet.


Q: When you buy modems, why not have it based on a curve of how many you buy?
I mean half the time you spend just going to the store to get it.  And it
wouldn't take you much longer to pick up 900 modems than it would one, also if
they are internal, then you already have the computer open for the next one.
Instead of just making it one action per modem, make it something like 2 for
the first one.  Then up to 20 have them be one action a piece and then one
half, (rounded to the nearest action of course) etc..  Also you usually get a
discount when you buy in large amounts, so maybe a curve there too.

A: The 1 action per modem thing is the only way I could spread out the "work"
of going to the store, buying the modems, taking them back and hooking them up
then making sure that the software is talking to them, then getting the phone
lines connected to the modems, making sure that the phone guys have their
stuff wired right. It is not just the act of "buying" the modems.


Q: I had 103.3 actions. When I worked, I only had 100. Wassup?

A: When your employees do something close to quitting time it sometimes takes
you a few personal actions to "fix" whatever they don't do right or leave
undone.


Q: When you hack a board, delete the user account, and they loose some users,
those users go somewhere don't they? So why not have them be spread out to the
rest of the boards? The better boards, of course would get more users.

A: Ah, yes. You are on the right track! They do get out and join other boards.
Keep an eye on the number of users joining when the hacking gets more active.


Q: Tell me about the hacking. If you successfully hack a BBS, send a virus to
destroy his equipment, what sort of assurance do you have that you were
successful?

A: Who said there has to be any assurance that your hack worked? Yes, when you
hack hardware they drop a major chunk. The same should be true with the users.
Those two areas are the weak points to target.


Q: I suppose my real question is What equipment do you destroy, and how can
you know if you're successful?

A: You pick either modems or computer hardware right now. The modem hack
actually "hurts" the other player more than killing their computer. But there
is not much you can tell over the phone line.


Q: What happened to my education!?? Well so much for the testing.  I guess the
education does all go down at once.  I had lots of personal yesterday, and now
I have 6.  I guess I got amnesia. :)

A: It should be tied in pairs of public/caller id and personal/security. that
age at the same rate. Keep them both up and you should not have a problem.


Q: I got put in jail for 4 days! Can't I plead temporary insanity or
something?

A: I think they still put crazy people in padded rooms and take away things
like modems and computers. Do you want to get out of jail that bad?


Q: What happened to the hack option? I lost 200 actions and $900k. I thought I
could pick which I wanted to hack.

A: Check your education again. The "hack" prompt should let you know how much
you lack and of what kind.


Q: How does the hacker know how much money to charge me?

A: He can hack into your bank just like anything else. He knows what you can
afford if you really want the information.


Q: While they are off in jail, wouldn't that be a perfect time to rob them Or
hack their board? Shouldn't it be easier to rob them when they are gone?

A: That depends on how the police are feeling and how good their security
system is. If you think about it most people are away from their computer more
often than not. At the very least they need to go for food and toilet breaks.


Q: Is a 4 personal enough to hack a bbs and get some stuff, or do I need more?

A: It would be much safer to wait until you get more. But that is up to you.


Q: I had a supercomputer, and got the term software for 999,999 lines, then I
got taken down to a mainframe. But I still have 38000 modems even though my
mainframe will only support 9,999. How can this work?

A: It doesn't. If you keep checking your report you will find that the "extra"
modems break unless you do something with them like send them to someone else
through netmail.


Q: I went to visit the hacker and went from 38 to -13.

A: It takes time to learn, no matter who you learn from.


Q: My problem is when I have -34 actions or whatever, and someone sends me
some more.  I have to wait until the next day to get them.

A: The "negative" thing is like you stayed up way too late last night and
won't wake up until noon tomorrow! The good thing is that your employees can
keep on doing their thing while you sleep.


Q: Yeah, but other sysops can come over and work while you are asleep too.

A: Huh? I thought that you had to be "awake" before you could answer their
mail offering help.


Q: You could hack the same guy several days in a row that would be a problem.
If 2 or 3 people hacked the same person several times in one day, that person
would be down to nothing in no time. Is that fair?

A: That was the idea. That would keep any one person from being #1 for long.
Any team of players could kill off the top dudes in short order!


Q: When I got hacked, it took away my users, but it also gave me about 200
more actions..?

A: That is what is called "mad" actions. When you find out that someone broke
into your office or hacked into your system you get mad and can do more than
you normally could. If you are out of it because of negative actions then the
200 extra should put you back into the game in a hurry. And no, there are no
mad actions for fake calling card hacks.


Q: When someone hacks all of the user accounts wouldn't a lot of those users
come back the next day and just log on as a new user again?

A: I don't agree. If I paid $50 or something for a BBS and they got robbed and
wanted me to pay them another $50 for something I should have been getting I
would get mad and go someplace else. I don't care if they lost all of their
payment records in the burglary. How would you feel?


Q: If you rob someone and take away 1 mil points or whatever from taking all
their modems, or computer, shouldn't you get the 1 mil they lost?  You have
what cost them 1 mil, so you if you have what they lost, you should get the
points too.

A: That depends on the hardware. Most of the things you take from someone else
will not bring you the same number of points you would get if you got them
from the store. This is to try and encourage people to buy things for more
points rather than just take everything.


Q: The price of education is too high. Can't I get federal aid or something?

A: Hey, that is for the low income folks. I've seen your bank account!


Q: When you break into a place wouldn't it make it easier to do the next time?
After all you do learn from experience. I think that your education should go
up with every time you break in or hack.

A: Ah, yes. But you are forgetting that there are two sides. The other people
also "learn" from the burglary or hack and are not as easy next time around.


Q: When I went from mainframe to super computer my score went up be over 1
mil. Then I want back down to mainframe, and got back down to 1 mil something,
now that I got up to Megacomputer shouldn't my score go up?  I mean from 350
to 5300 is a major difference.

A: There are many things that go into the score calculation. The computer is
only a small part. The part that you are noticing could be the number of users
who either join because you got a new wiz-bang system or leave because you got
burglarized.


Q: Is there really any way someone could get that computer out of there? I
don't think a computer of that size would even go out the door. I think the
building would have to be built around it.

A: Isn't it amazing how much computing power they can stick in such small,
portable boxes these days? You may be thinking of the old pictures of very
large, three story tall computers that had lots of blinking lights and paper
tape spitting out of a slot. The new systems are much smaller and lighter. And
if that isn't enough, you have super human strength in the game to be able to
pick up a computer of any size without having to call the doctor the next
morning! :)


Q: So if you stole 1000 modems you would still get just as many points as if
you bought 1000 modems right?

A: Minus the users that join when you add a store bought modem to your system.
You really don't go advertising that you just got 1000 new modems while the
police are trying to find someone who just stole 1000 last night, would you?


Q: OK. Well if that was true then if you bought a modem and then someone stole
it, you would still gain some points right?

A: If someone breaks into your house or office and takes a modem, you get to
keep some of the points that you got when you went to the store and got the
thing. And they get the 1 point for the dumb modem. Kinda makes you want to
buy modems instead of steal them, doesn't it? ;)


Q: Is that all the points you get for a high speed modem, or is that the
difference between buying them and stealing them?

A: That is the difference between buying them and stealing them.


Q: Do I get mad actions for calling card hacks?

A: No, there is no mad actions for calling card hacks.


Q: What about for stealing 1 modem?

A: If you take all of his 2400 baud modems (and he only has one) then he will
still get mad.


Q: No I meant if they had hundreds of modems and you take one will they still
get the actions?

Q: Yes, you want to rack up mad actions by breaking into each others board and
stealing the same 2400 baud modem back and forth? Try it and see how it works.

A: Never mind, that wouldn't work.  It takes more actions than the other
person would get.  I was thinking when you leave a calling card it only takes
and action or two, but stealing their stuff takes more.


Q: You don't get to pick how many you want to take. You just take them all?

A: You are in a hurry after all.


Q: Yeah.  You can disconnect 15,000 modems from a computer and take them to
your car a lot faster than you can with one.

A: Well, if all you are doing is unplugging modems then you may have something
there. But I am looking at the time it takes to get in the door as being the
larger part of the time spent stealing. Once you are inside everything is a
lot easier.


Q: Yeah, but the longer you are inside, the more likely you are to get caught,
so you want to get in and get out as fast as you can. Right?

A: It takes a lot longer to get into a building than it seems. There are a lot
of things you have to look out for, and after the first time, it doesn't get
any easier, it gets harder. And yeah, you do want to get in and out real
quick, but what if the score also reflects mental and emotional strain?


Q: If the reason you don't start off with 100 actions the next day when you
have neg. actions the day before is because you slept in late, and got up late
the next morning, then if you had some action left over, doesn't that mean you
got to bed early and woke up earlier the next morning?

A: I don't know about you, but if the people I know go to bed 10 minutes early
they don't get up 10 minutes earlier the next morning saying they were "done"
sleeping. On the other hand, if they get to bed 10 minutes late they must
sleep in an extra 30 minutes to make up for it.


Q: Yeah but still if you went to bed at 5:00 PM the day before don't you think
you would get up just a LITTLE bit earlier than if you went to bed at 5:00 am
that day?  (Yes I know no one really goes to bed at 5:00 PM.)

A: This, also it true. But in that case I would look at it more like leaving
work early. Sure you have lots of time left, but does that make it any easier
to get to work earlier the next day?


Q: Well if you slept in you would get to work late the next day..  Wouldn't
you get fired if you came in late too many days?

A: That depends on who the boss is, wouldn't it? I mean, if you own the BBS
then you can sleep in as late as you want. And if you wanted to call in your
work orders from jail and have your employees do stuff, you could do that too.


Q: If you log in twice on the same day, and you have no turns left, but you
check your status anyway, how come you go down some points? I lost two just
for checking in, and was curious.

A: Things are always changing, users calling or leaving your board and new
messages being put into your mailbox. Even when the sysop is away these things
still go on. This is why your score changes when you are not "playing."


Q: Why doesn't it save when the last time you used the virus was?  You could
run the virus, exit the game, come right back in and you could have a virus
attack with in 5 turns.

A: It does "remember" each time you scan, but that doesn't prevent a virus
from getting through. You may want to watch what you do right before a virus
attack for some clues. (hint hint)


Q: Why does the hacker keep getting caught by the FBI? It happens every time.

A: Maybe you should not hang around his place so often. It is sorta safe to
visit him once a day, but more than that you are asking for it.


Q: Why not have the game have an option to run a time-event or where you have
to shut your BBS down for the night due to bad weather.

A: That would work while you were still small, but for some of the very large
boards it would be like taking CompuServe off-line due to bad weather.


Q: So... How's come a guy with only one line, and one user can be ahead of a
guy with a bunch of lines and a bunch of users? Seems to me that one caller
does not a great sysop make.

A: That is a flaw in the scoring method. The hardware counts as part of the
score and the player with 1 user may have some big bucks hardware sitting
there. I am trying to figure out a more realistic way to reflect the score.
Something along the lines of how much the users call a BBS + how much work a
sysop puts into the BBS. This should allow a very active 1 line BBS to out
rank a very large "dead" board.


Q: The friendly game told me I was playing for 10 actions even though I only
had 4 actions left. I lost and ended up with -6 actions.

A: That is the smallest amount it will play for. If you do not want to risk
going into action debt then don't play when the numbers are that low.


Q: The REPORT is still messed up. It told me the nearest competition had a
real small system.

A: If you notice the disclaimer at the bottom of the report it will tell you
that the accuracy of the report is not 100% which means that sometimes it
lies. This is because some sysops don't tell the complete truth about their
hardware or software setup when people ask.


Q: I didn't see the 'Play a friendly game' the whole day.

A: There are several things tied to the same flag as the game. They all will
give you actions, but maybe not as many as the friendly game. The flag is set
so you will only be allowed to get a few of the action bonus messages each day
which should keep people from racking up thousands of actions in one day.


Q: How long do you have to go without playing to be considered "non active"?

A: It is different for each setup depending on the hardware, software, number
of users, charging method and amount of work already put into the system. Most
of the larger boards can go for several months without the sysop before it
goes "dead." The smaller boards tend to die off much quicker when the sysop
leaves them unattended.


Q: Do you lose your actions if you get above 1000? I sent a bunch to one of my
fakes, and then it said I got sick right after I got them. I would have had
1070 actions

A: It should be different for every sysop depending on their system size, work
load and experience. If the number is 1000 for you then it would be a good
idea not to pack up that many actions at once.


Q: Why does 100 meg drive take longer to scan than a 3gig drive?

A: How fast is your 100 meg drive? Most small drives that I know are very slow
like 20 to 30 ms average access. Compare this to the large drives at 8-10ms.
And when you get into RAID drive arrays and caching cards the access time goes
down to near 1ms. That means that on a RAID drive you can find and access
files many times faster than on a regular drive.


Q: How about if there was a way to take a few of someone's modems instead of
all of them. It would probably be better and fairer if someone could only take
half of your modems.

A: I thought about that. Actually the "risk" is all up front. If you get
inside then the risk part is already at 100%. Taking 1 or 1000 modems would be
a small difference after that. I'll try to make an option anyway to allow you
to only grab a few modems if you feel like being a kind crook.


Q: I noticed the fake clue card option, what is it? Why would I want to waste
time with a card?

A: That is great for "team hacks" where the last person to do a hack wipes out
all of the others and leaves a fake clue number instead.


Q: I wonder if it would mess something up if you hack someone while they are
in the game.  Like if they buy a computer at the same time you are stealing
theirs, would they get then next version computer and you take the one they
have then, or would they get the get the computer version 1 then buy level 2.
Or would it just mess the whole thing up.  I know things like that are not
likely, but they are possible.

A: What it does if you hack right before they buy a computer is give them a
level 2 computer and you get their old system. If you hack right after then
you get everything like a normal break in and they get a level 1 computer. It
can't happen "at the same time" due to the record locking built in to the
game. One user must wait until the other is done updating the record before
the other can do anything. This normally only takes a fraction of a second so
you never notice it. I have tried to keep the data file access limited to as
small a time slice as I can to help avoid just those sort of problems.


Q: Do the sysops have a way of editing the players data on the game?  Because
you want to make sure (if they can) that it won't mess things up once it gets
too high.

A: Yes, they do have a simple editor. It has a small check utility built into
it to keep them from pushing past the digit limit on all of the number fields.
Even so it could be possible for the sysop to "crash" his own game, but if he
wants to do that then his users will do a better job of letting him know than
I could. The target for this game is the multi-line commercial boards which if
the sysop wanted to crash the game may end up costing him subscriptions. I
don't think many would try. At least not more that once.


Q: But what would keep the sysop from using the editor to cheat?

A: The sysop can't edit his own account. So that should cut a fair amount of
possible "cheating" on his part. He can edit SOME of the information in the
other player's records. The editor has been a low priority so I have not put
much time into it.


Q: I am not keeping the security that I bought the day before. Yesterday I got
up to 8 on each type, but today they are only 6 & 7.

A: It could also be due to someone trying to hack you? Another reason could be
due to the hardware breaking or going obsolete which happens a lot these days.
One way to slow this process is to put more into your ed. Smarter people can
do small repairs on old or cheap broken hardware to keep it going a little
longer.


Q: What would happen if someone stole your modems, but the modems were in
netmail? For example, I send Jennings my modems, but Zongker breaks in and
gets my modems before Jennings has them. Would Zongker and Jennings both end
up with my modems, or would they not show up when Zongker broke in to steal
them?

A: Let me answer with putting it in a little different terms. If you put $10
in a letter to me and gave it to the mailman, then someone broke into your
house and took all your money, would the mailman still give the $10 to me?


Q: Do you think modems are too expensive? A real 19.2 only costs about $200,
but you have it for about $1000.

A: Also included in that price is the installation, hardware and other charges
required to get everything connected and working. The actual modem cost is
only a part of the picture. It is possible that these separate charges will be
split in a future version of the game.


Q: Can you only visit a hacker once a day without getting caught?

A: Actually the hacker has lots of people going by to "see" him and doesn't
much care for people who bug him over and over. Those kinds of people tend to
a little quirky about some things.


Q: Can you EVER bribe the official with enough money for him to tell you
anything?

A: Most of the time he is more interested in spending your tax money than
helping you. There is a 1:100 chance that you will get information out of him
that will boost both your education two points. This is not a very good way to
boost your ed. There is a "stupid value" of about 1% of your bank account or
$50 (whichever is more). When you donate less than that value then it just
dumps you past the chance to talk to the official and the office staff tell
you some more lies.


Q: As for hacking and breaking in, why does it always go down to -10 actions,
and not just take away about 100 every time.  It's not like the judge knows
how "tired" you are. Then again though. I guess that just proves the one day
idea of the game wrong.  I don't think anyone gets put in prison for one day.
Unless they get out for good behavior. <g>

A: Law enforcement officials in this country can hold any person for up to 48
hours (2 days) in jail (not prison) for any reason they want. Normally 24
hours is what they use to give them a taste of jail. In the case of the game
they just hold you until tomorrow morning. No matter how many actions you get
in 1 day being put in jail will take away everything you have left for today
plus however long it takes them to let you go tomorrow.


Q: Yeah, but I don't think that a days turn is actually a day in the game.
There's no way that anyone could do all the work that you can in the game in
one day.

A: This is one of the many areas that have been "hollywood-ized" in order to
make the game a little nicer to play. After all, if you really wanted to put
up with the work load and long hours that a real sysop goes through then you
would be running your own BBS instead of playing a game, right?


Q: I have over 2000 employees and only 892 employee actions, what are all
those employees doing?

A: Let me explain it to you this way. Think of IBM. They make computers and
employ thousands of people. Do all of those thousands of people turn screws in
those computers they make? No, some (actually most) are classed as management.
This is where all those "non-working" employees show up on your payroll. There
may only be a small part that actually turn the screws and the rest are there
to make sure that the small part keeps working.


Q: How about adding a lotto?

A: I think that your complaints about the low success rates on the Public
Official have already answered that question. Every lotto that I have seen has
a win ratio something like 1:1,000,000 which is much smaller than the 1:100
ratio you already don't like. Do you really want a lotto?


Q: Well there is a 1:1,000,000 odds of winning the $1,000,000 or whatever, but
you can still win 100 dollars or so for matching some of the numbers.  Or have
it to where you pick 4 letters, and get $10,000 for 1 match $100,000 for 2,
$1,000,000 for 3, and...

A: Check the odds again on those cards. I don't think any of them come closer
than 1:100 which is currently the public official setting. Actually after
seeing the load of money piling up at his office I think that running a lotto
is very easy money even with very low odds. If you really do want to get rid
of your money that much why not send it directly to me. I'll even give you
better odds than the public official. For every 10 letters with more than
$1,000 I'll send you back one message with $2,000! That is 1:10 odds of
doubling your money! But the tax dude also likes to get in on the winnings so
you may actually end up with less than 50% of the winnings. :)


Q: It might take 1 employee 10 times as long to do something as you, but when
you have 2000 employees, they should do it (2000/10) 200 times faster than
you.

A: Ah yes. I think you are missing something in your calculation, if one man
can dig a post hole in 60 seconds and the more men you add make the work go
faster then according to your calculations 60 men can dig one post hole in one
second. Why don't we see these groups of 60 men working on digging one hole?


Q: It said I got a hack attempt, but I could not see anything on my damage
report.

A: Sometimes they leave a trace that can be picked up and sometimes not. It
depends on how good they are.


Q: Why do I only get $30k every time I get subscription renewals? Is that the
limit or something?

A: For the way you are charging for access that is the most you can get at one
time. Different charging methods have different limits and pay off rates. You
can change to a different method. It would not be a good idea to change the
way you charge too often.


Q: What does that mean (3 are managers)? Do I have more than I need or
something, so some become managers?

A: The "managers" are employees who don't add to the number of actions you can
use. As for having more employees than you have lines I'm not sure. Could it
be, perish the thought, that some are loafing? :)


Q: Was that suppose to be a joke?  If I sent you 10 messages with $1,000 that
would be $10,000 and I'd get 2,000 back.  Well gee sounds like a great deal to
me. :)

A: Hey, you were the one that wanted a lotto! I just gave you much, much,
much, better odds than the real live version and you think it is a joke?


Q: What I want is to have a betting ring thing on each net, to where every
player joining puts in $100,000 and picks a number between 1 and 1000 and
whoever comes the closest gets all of the money.  That is after the owner of
the network takes out his share.

A: You are a network hub, why not start one yourself? Send a note to your
network members and tell them about this "great" chance you have to get rich
quick! You pick the number. They send the money to you. You tell them who won.
What could be easier?


Q: I want to get rid of all of the old 2400 baud modems, the only problem is,
no one wants them.

A: Think again. I have seen several players with line loads over 100% that
would love to pick up a load of modems from you. Ask around the net or try the
consignment store.


Q: Is there any way to change the way I charge. I figure that hourly is the
best, but maybe it is not. I want to change it to per DL charging and see if
that is better.

A: Yes, the option to change the way you charge is available once each day
when you go into the (C)harge option. I do suggest that you not change too
often. This can make the users who have already paid for access mad.


Q: Why don't the police in the game go check out the other player's setups to
find the stolen items?

A: I don't think you have any legal grounds for that. And I don't think the
police in the game are smart enough yet to go into a thief's office to "check"
for stolen property. It may be an option in the future.


Q: Oh I see the cops in this game are rent-a-cops <g>

A: Well, the game really is not big enough to employ a full time police force.
So I take what I can get. :)


Q: Why is it that if I take instruction from a tutor, my public rating in
education goes up? I've taken it from the Stern lady teacher, and the Scruffy
old guy, and each time it affects my public ED.

A: That is because they are teaching you the same things you would learn in
school if you went for a year or so. Each instructor has a different method of
teaching the material, but it is still public education material.


Q: Wouldn't you think, being a Sysop yourself, that if your rating was an
Expert Sysop, that your education would already be rather high? At least in
the personal rating?

A: You do get education points for experience, but not as many as you may
think. I think the "Guru Sysop" only gets 15 personal/public education points.
I have been at this BBS thing for over 10 years now and like to think that I
know a little about it. But if I walk into any school and demand a degree from
them, they laugh. Big and loud too! It is so embarrassing.


Q: How about having a computer player who will play your turns if you don't
play for that day?

A: How many sysops out there who would love to have a such a program in real
life. Do you know of such a program? Can you send me one so I and make the
game version look something like it? The program should be able to answer
messages, answer chat, change bulletins, call other boards and leave
advertisements for your BBS, update bulletins to get more subscribers and scan
for virus infected files among other sysop duties. :)


Q: Does failed hack attempt cover break-ins and hacking, or just hacking? I
have never seen it say failed break-in attempt.

A: No, the "failed hack" message is just that. The "failed break in" is a
different and separate message.


Q: Why do 2400 users complain for more lines, but the high speed users do not?
Are there just not many high speed users, or what? It seems like they would
also want more lines, because they cannot use their good modems on the 2400
lines, but the 2400 users can use all the lines at the same speed.

A: On average there are about twice as many 2400 baud users as high speed
users. So if you have all high speed modems the 2400 baud users will complain
much sooner than the 9600 baud users even though they both have access to the
same number of phone lines. The (U)sage option should display the actual ratio
for your BBS and users.


Q: I think there are more high-speed callers than 2400 in real life. I saw a
bulletin on a bbs that has had over 15k calls, and there were a couple
thousand more 14.4 than 2400. It was about 8k 14.4, 6k 2400, and about 1000 of
various other speeds.

A: Check again. Is that bulletin listing the number of CALLS at 14.4k or the
number of CALLERS who connect at 14.4k? As a general rule, the high speed
callers can get more done in a shorter amount of time so there are more
connects made at those speeds. I am basing the ratio on the number of users
who own each speed of modem. You should know, being 2400 baud yourself, that
not everyone goes out and picks up a high speed modem just because a faster
modem is available. True the ratio may be a little heavy on the slow speed
side. That could be due to the fact that it was designed originally in 1991
which didn't have the great prices on 14.4k modems that we have now.


Q: I get it now. I did not think about the fact that they have to stay on line
longer to do the same things. I guess I just forget those things sometimes. I
do not know why I still have 2400. I just do not want to spend $150 for 14.4
or 19.2. But isn't your ratio still a little old?

A: From my experience the ratio has always been in favor of the older, slower
hardware, but that may change.


Q: Does life insurance really do anything, or is it just kind of something to
get people to waste money?

A: Well, that depends on what you mean by the word "do." It is a very nice
policy, but since it is "life" insurance you don't get any money until you
die. Not really worth much in a game like this unless I add a murder option to
the personal menu. But who would you leave your money to?


Q: Do the different viruses really do different things, or are they just to
make it a little more interesting? I noticed that sometimes I lose users, but
other times I just lose modems.

A: They do lots of different things. The most common is hardware (modem)
damage. I'll try to make it a little more varied.


Q: How About the option to get a loan from the bank?  If you do implement
this, please allow the player to enter how much they want to pay back at one
time, instead of having to have enough money to pay off the whole thing at
once.

A: I have thought about this loan feature and it seems that it would be a lot
of work to get the first version into the game. There would have to be a
calculation to make a credit "risk" for the bank so they would not loan you
more money than they think you could pay back. And then the player could pick
between unsecured (credit card type) loan at a higher percentage rate or a
secured loan and risk their hardware at two different lengths which would set
the payment schedule, interest rate and amount.


Q: Why does the hacker always take so much money?

A: He hacks into your bank account and finds out how much you can afford to
pay. So it is best to spend as much money as you can before you visit him. The
actions should be a semi-random number less than 90. If you are hitting the
low end then you are lucky.


Q: It took me 3 actions to complete the work of one employee. This employee
must be a REALLY hard worker.

A: Or he really messed things up in his rush to get out the door by quitting
time!


Q: On the usage thing I have 1095 high speed modems (that's all the modems I
have, no 2400)  But it says: 2400 users have access to 1095 lines 53% full
9600 and higher users have access to 1095 lines 26% full. Now if the 2400
users are using the same lines as the 1095 users then shouldn't it be the same
% full for both callers?

A: That display is showing you how much "load" each speed of caller is putting
on those lines. The 2400 baud callers tend to take more time to transfer files
or display text or just about everything than high speed callers. This is why
the 2400 baud load is higher than the 9600 baud.


Q: Is Lewd a word? I think it is supposed to be either RUDE or CRUDE.

A: Pull out your Funk & Wagnalls and look it up. It should say something to
the tune of; lewd (lood) ajv. 1. Characterized by or inciting to lust or
debauchery. 2. Obscene; ribald; bawdy. 3. Obs. Unprincipled; worthless.

(Didn't know you were going to learn something new by playing a game did you?)


Q: Did you take Turboscan off totally or just for RAIDs?

A: The Turboscan is only for drives that may take more than a few seconds to
scan. If your drive is fast enough the option will not be shown.


Q: I almost always get either 1 or 10 messages that I have to answer regular
where you just say POLITE or RUDE or whatever. Is there nothing in between? I
occasionally will get another number, but it is one of those 2 90% of the
time.

A: The program, to be a little nicer for the player, limits the max. number of
mad messages to 10. If you are always getting this number then you have ALOT
of people mad at you. I would suggest trying to be a little nicer to your mad
users to see if that helps. Also, answering mail before it reaches a high
number will help cut down on the mad mail.


Q: Why are the employee paychecks so much? At $20 an hour times 8 hours it
should only be half or less of the amount shown.

A: I agree that the numbers are off. But not as much as you think. I think you
are also confused about how employers have to pay their people. First off the
$20 per hour is only the part that the employee gets. Then the tax people get
in there and take a bite out of the employee's paycheck, but the amount that
they take out of the check they also require the employer to match (above the
paycheck). Then the state tax people get in there with their cut from the
employee and the employer, unemployment insurance, retirement fund, health
insurance, union fees, and a great many other employee benefits which may run
several times as much as the employee's "per hour" rate.


Q: Why is it so hard to catch the user in a chat before he hangs up?

A: The user (like most real ones) runs straight from the "Call Sysop" option
to the log off option. You must be fast.


Q: What do 14.4 modems count as? There is a line for 9600 and >19.2, but that
does not include 14.4. I think you include them with the 19.2s, but I am not
sure.

A: Yes, they are classed from the software side as 19.2k since IBM BIOS does
not have a 14.4k setting.


Q: Would every paying users re-subscribe every time in real life on a major
board? I think that would be like if no one every canceled a subscription to
Prodigy.

A: On the boards that I have been around or part of they core paying users do
tend to stick around more than on the "big boys" services. Then again, how
many of those big services have a sysop that works as hard on making the
service better like you work on your board?


Q: This is getting like the simcity collection. Besides what happened to all
that "realistic" stuff you like to say this game is?

A: There is a difference between making the game realistic and making a
simulated reality out of it. One gives you a chance to "taste" what it may be
like to do something, the other is like actually doing it. I like to think
that this game is realistic in some of it's features, but since it is a game I
didn't want to make it take whole years of your life to build up your system.


Q: In the store it doesn't say "step down" beside the bbs software that I
have. Should it say something to keep me from buying it?

A: If the line count is the same that you have now it is a version upgrade
which will attract new users. So it would be worth it to get the upgrade when
you can afford it.


Q: But when you buy 1000 modems, you can usually get a discount on the modems,
not the phone company bill.

A: I just took the easy way out and made an average price. I will do my best
to split the bill into different charges in future versions.


Q: Don't modems and stuff ever short out and break?

A: Keep a close watch on your modems. They do "age" and die.


Q: I had 72 line software but bought the 64 line version by accident. I
thought my lines went up by 64 not bring me back down. How do you get more
than 64 lines most people I see have thousands of lines!

A: If you check the (L)ist option inside the store it will show you all of the
system and money requirements for each level of software, computer hardware or
whatever. Also, in the store it will say "step down" beside software packages
supporting less lines than you currently have. If you really want to step down
to a lower package you can. I won't stop you any more than a salesman in a
store will stop you from buying something he is selling.


Q: Does your money in the bank draw interest?

A: It should, but the interest rate is so low now nobody would notice
something like $.03 being added to their account each month.


Q: I saw that term life insurance, and thought that you might die on the game
or something. What good is it?

Q: Well, the only time you get sick right now is when you get too many actions
piled up. Also, I don't think death is an option in this version of the game.
As more and more violence is worked in it may become a possibility.


Q: What is the quit option for? I do not know why anyone would want to quit,
but you never know.

A: The quit option was originally put in because the users in the early
versions were very easy to make mad and they would reach a point where they
would bankrupt the BBS. At that point you didn't have a choice. You had to
quit your system and start over with a new one someplace else and hope that
the mad users didn't find your new system. Now it is used more to dump a
failing BBS in favor of a new setup.


Q: Why do users leave a lot when I charge them? I guess it could be a
coincidence, but I doubt it because it happens so often that way.

A: In my experience when the "charge" word is mentioned on a BBS some people
think that it is an insult. They would not pay for a BBS if their life
depended on it. These are the free users who leave your system when you use
the charge option. The strange thing is, they tend to be the users who use up
the most of the sysop's time and are most vocal about bugs and busy signals.
Strange, huh?


Q: What is considered a high number of unanswered mail? I hardly ever have
over 150 messages, and I never do rude answers. There are probably just a lot
because they want me to get more lines.

A: Exactly. Most users will complain when they can't get access to a board
where they are members. But they will also complain when they can't get an
answer from you.


Q: Are Validation and Alarm suppose to cost the same? They do for me. I have
level 12 alarm and 6 validation, but the upgrades cost the same for each one.
It seems to me that level 6 validation should cost less than 12 alarm, but I
do not really know how much they would cost in real life.

A: The "cost" is to upgrade from the level that you have to the next highest
level. The difference between the level 11 and level 12 security just happens
to be the same as the difference between level 5 and level 6 CallerID for your
system. But the total cost is level 1 + level 2 + level 3 +... and so on.


Q: Instead of just having 30k users leave, maybe have a bunch more than that
leave so the usage will drop a lot more. If 200k left, that would drop my
usage about 10%, and I could play for a while without complaints.

A: This was a problem in the earlier versions where a high number of users
would get mad at the same time. The problem is that once a few users leave the
others can get through a little easier which keeps them around a little while
longer. The easiest way to keep ahead of the users is to either go 100% 2400
baud or spend all your employee actions on modems and phone lines until the
load gets down to a number you can cope with.


Q: Why do I lose money when the subscribers leave? If they are only paying me
by download, they should not want any money back that they do not think they
got use out of.

A: There are several ways that I have seen this work. Most of the personal
boards don't want the collection problems with the pay-after method, having to
send out bills at the end of the month and past due notices for those who
don't pay on time. Instead they have the user pay for a block (bytes/time) up
front and then put that credit into their account to use up at their will. The
accounting is easiest on the "block buy" type so that is what I put into the
game. When they leave because they are mad, they demand their money back. I
hope to have an option in a future version to allow the sysop to select a
legal clause where he keeps the money or gives back the remainder. This would
allow some boards to attract more users and others to keep their money when
the users get mad.


Q: I can't seem to get through to anyone without those rent-a-cops showing up
every time.

A: It is always harder to hack a smaller BBS and easier to hack a larger BBS.
Try it and see if that helps your success rate.


Q: If a couple of the small boards wanted to take down a large one, could they
work together to take it down?

A: The idea behind that hacking/breaking limitation was to make it easier for
the smaller boards to take down a very large system. If enough users team up
to attack a Top 10 board they can take him down in only one day. They can
"wear" down the security by the volume of their attacks.


Q: Are you saying it would be easier for a lot of "kid-in-a-room" bbs's with
little or no education to take out some multi-million dollar bbs with security
guards working all of the time, state of the art security system and
everything else than it would be for an owner of a multi-million dollar bbs
who has taken 20 years of college and hires a personal tutor every other day,
and has visited every hacker in town to take down a little Mickey mouse,
"kid-in-the-room" bbs with absolutely no security.

A: Think about it. Who would attract more police attention? The "big boys" are
more well known so the police like to see what they are doing from time to
time. When they go into the "poor" side of town it looks strange so the cops
are more likely to be curious and tail them. On the other hand, most large
security systems are built from the single attack point of view. If you get a
bunch of people running over the building even the best system won't last
long. It is also possible, if the group turns into a mob, that the police will
run the other way. I guess the rule here is Strength-in-numbers.


Q: What good is a netmail bomb?

A: The mail bomb that you can send through the network is a special
combination of codes that can cause different software to crash in different
ways. The most common is to disable some of your phone lines or lower your BBS
software total line count. Other times it is just a lot of work to fix the
damage. But it is possible to not do any damage but make the person mad which
will give them extra actions to attack you back.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please submit any questions, suggestions or comments to The iFX Group through:
Zone One BBS 1-213-653-4970  or Bryant Software BBS 1-303-733-0773.

[VSYSOP.FAQ 1094]