Escape from Nightmare Mansion. Win an XBOX 360 with Kinect!

Phi0nix

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Feb 10, 2011
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Uncreative said:
Phi0nix said:
Combining finding badges for this contest with college homework; some might say it's impossible, but I say nay. We have to make a statistical findings chart for my MTH115 class tomorrow, so I'm finding out how many people with a user name starting with "c" on The Escapist joined this contest. Hell ya, what an ADHD mind can accomplish XD
Also, I think you're my hero.
Haha glad you liked that, and my professor gave it an A+ for unusual creativity. So next time someone says video games negatively effect performance in school, call bullshit on their ass.

Caramel Frappe said:
Jhoomaso said:
FML again, first click "You run away, you get 0 points" lol 2nd time so far.
I actually have a theory behind this- same thing happened to me as well yesterday when I clicked on the room once it was available. However, I didn't click any Badges while it was open thus just had me go run into a room granting me 0 points.

Today, not clicking the lit room at first- I clicked on 2 Badges (got a point, then lost one..) so when I clicked the lit room after: It gave me 9 tries which I got all positives from it. So now, I am at 88 points W00T!! (Cause I was at 79 points before clicking the room). My advise to you all is click some Badges before clicking the lit room, it probably doubles your chances of points from the room by counting your Badges. Again, just a theory.
I've actually experienced the exact opposite of this, so I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter what you do (kinda like the idea that holding "B" in pokemon made your chances of catching go up wasn't real).

On a side note, I'm really relieved to hear that if you're tied for 20th you're still in the running for the prize, but does it work that way for all ranks. What I mean is if you have 3 people tied for 3rd, 16th and 20th would all of them be considered holders of that rank? I ask because that would mean that 26 people would be eligible for the grand prize in my particular example. If that's the case then the chances of being one of the three people chosen from the top 20 goes down even lower. So, just wondering.
 

Louis Demella

New member
Jul 29, 2011
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survival horror on a motion control? I want to like it. But I've been let down before(I'm looking at you star wars.)
 

Kamahl129

New member
Jan 21, 2008
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I'm getting quite annoyed that each badge I click decreases my points...

I've clicked well over 40 different undead monster badges and roughly 70% of them have reduced my score.
 

Phi0nix

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Feb 10, 2011
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Dargocitfer said:
For a brief, shining moment yesterday, I managed to break into the leaderboard, and made it all the way to 36th, I think. (Not top 20, but my name was visible, dammit!)

I harvested every badge from the leaderboard and from this forum, and then rested, thinking "I'll click through the mansion tomorrow to try and gain some more points."

HA! One click, new room, no points. :-D

Oh well. Maybe I'll take a page from Phi0nix's playbook. I'll start with a different letter, tho...

(And a weird "freebee" I'll give to the community. On a whim, I clicked on the "Undead Monster" in my own profile. And I got a point! Maybe everyone else already does this, but it seemed unlikely that my own monster would count. But apparently, it does.)
Damn I'm helping the competition. Naw I'm just messing, I'm actually kind of glad I was able to give someone an idea that helped. So on the theme that this contest has brought us lurkers out of the shadows into the friendly community and that the competitors have for the most part been easy going, I want to post some helpful tips on getting up to the leader board. Seeing as I'm already top 20, though admittedly struggling to hold that position, I don't see any reason not to help others get the chance to reach the top 20. Without further blabbering from me I present Phi0nix's playbook & tips for making it to the top 20.

* THE MANSION *
Always remember to check the mansion page every new day - This might seem obvious, but there are some who might forget or just underestimate the value of the mansion points. It's a chance to easily get a lot of points quickly without the risk of losing points.


* THE BADGES *
Take the risk and click dem suckers, you most likely won't make it to the leader board otherwise. Finding these buggers can seem impossible at times so have a strategy and follow it!
1) The leader board is a great starting place - You have 40 players who are guaranteed to have a badge just staring you in the face. Click them all, get 40 chances at points, and hell add them as friends while your at it; we are all friendly and most will friend you back so even more escapist badges YAY!
2) Scour this forum right here - It consists mostly of people playing the game, and almost every poster will have a badge. Also post a comment while you're here and get involved; trust me it's worth it.
3) Check the community page - It's the 6th tab on the top banner, and it will take you to a giant source of users on the site. Start searching through the options and take a look around; you'll find both badges and opportunities to get involved. Helpful sub-tabs to check under:

- "Newest Members" list: All of these people just joined, and a fair percent did so to join this contest, and thus have the badge you need which might be their only badge (trust me you will appreciate profiles with badges visible on the profile overview).
- "Who's Online" sub-tab: All of these people are online right now, duh. This is important though because it means they have been active since the contest started. So, this means you will be looking on a profile that has the possibility of having a badge, rather than wasting your time looking on a profile that hasn't been active since March which obviously won't have a badge.
- "Find Users" sub-tab: This is for people who are determined and have the time to spend. It is a giant archive of a users that you can limit down to specifics which help limit the results you get back to being more relevant to what we want, Getting Badges.
4) Check your friend's/player's friend's profiles - If you have a friend in this contest then there is a chance that their friends also know about the contest. If you have no friends, not as depressing as it sounds, then check the friends of someone who you found had a badge. If they are playing there is a good chance their friends know about the contest too.

* PRO TIPS (Waste Less Time While You're Wasting Time) *

1) Don't waste your time viewing profiles that aren't from US - The contest only makes US residents able to win, and thus almost no non-US users have joined with a few exceptions. Still, it's better to spend your time checking the more likely US profiles

2) Don't waste your time looking through badges of a profile that hasn't been active since before September 2011 - The contest only start 4 or 5 days ago so people who've been inactive obviously don't have a badge. So check the convenient "Last Active" note on the profile's overview.

3) Check the badge peep-view on the profiles overview - There are two of these: the one that appears with forum posts and the larger one on the profile overview. If these clearly aren't full and you don't see the Undead Badge, then don't waste time clicking the "badges" sub-tab.
BUT!!!
If you don't see the Badge, but the peep-view is full then--->

4) Check the total badge list with your browser's "text search" function - One thing I've noticed is that active users normally have a BAMILLION badges, which makes it a pain in the ass to find if they have an Undead Badge or not. So, hit "Ctrl" + "f", or whatever your browsers text search hot key is, and search for "undead". If they have the badge then the search will tell you and show you where it is saving you a huge headache (Admittedly I have found 2 other badges with "undead" in their description that aren't the one you're looking for which leads to outstanding frustration when you've searched like a hundred profiles, get a hit only to realize it's not the right badge...FML).

5) When searching under "Find Users" limit the search to only US profiles, and pick a letter to put in the "profile name" option - This will bring up results of users only in US who's names start with whatever letter you chose. This gives you a large but as relevant as possible list for you to farm systematically.

6) Have fun, don't get depressed - This is a game and a challenge so treat it as both. Don't get pissed over a few -1's in a row or that you haven't found a badge in awhile. Just take a break, chat on the forums, get some food or go be social and come back to persist on later.

7) Don't forget about your life - I for one am a college freshman, and can't spend all day doing this despite how easily it sucks you in if you're determined to try and win. Set a limit for yourself, and make sure you take care of your responsibilities. Trust me the top 20 isn't made up of people who're doing this 24/7 even if it seems that way; you can afford to take a break.


Well that's all I got, and it's what has carried me to the top 20 with 13th being my highest rank (all in only two days). Hope this helps some people have fun and have a better shot at the top 20, and I hope this doesn't piss off the other top 20'ers. So ya have fun, good luck, and feel free to message/friend me if you want.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Aug 3, 2011
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I dont mind winning a back up 360 and can sell the game and Kinect on ebay as i dont want them. lol Shame its US only.
 

weatherfn

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Oct 22, 2008
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Noooo! You spilling all teh Secrets!!!

JUUUSSST kidding. It's cool to see the different ways that people are going about finding the badges. I always forget about that handy-dandy ctrl F. (My old tech professor would be fuming at my lack of efficiency...)

I hadn't been looking though the Who's Online page, but now that my pride has been wounded, I must keep my place among the 20!
 

Phi0nix

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Feb 10, 2011
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Hmm I just noticed something odd. Since I've been monitoring the "Newest Members" section for badges, I have been able to keep up with who's recently joined. "theFished" joined about an hour ago, two hours at most, and within that time has accumulated 70 points rising to rank 30. Now I can understand a rapid accent to the leader board, and think it's great if someone is just that lucky. Still, 70 points in about an hour comes across as highly unlikely, but is admittedly still possible.

I remember this type of concern got brought up by Caramel Frappe with EvilTome18's and ravsters's sudden appearance on the leader board, and they both turned out to have done so legitimately with amazing luck. I hope it's the same with this case, but all the same I hope no one has found a way to cheat the system.
 

silent_J

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Sep 5, 2011
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New Troll said:
Jhoomaso said:
New Troll said:
Actually, seems the best day to start this event is on day 7. Not only can you still do the entire mansion part but you can farm badges without accidentally checking the same hundred profiles each day and also your badge won't be available for others to farm throughout the week.
Another thing to keep in mind, though it may have been due to the cheaters, but with the El Shaddai contest, the badge clicking ended a day early it seemed, less we werent all clear on the rules. Remember a lot of people were all "WTF? I cant click badges!?" that last day? Overly dramatic Im sure, but you know what I mean.
Yeah, have a feeling they stopped the contest early to have more time to review the cheaters. Actually don't see cheating as being as much of an issue with this contest. Probably because the cheaters learned their lesson from the last one.

I've also noticed a lot of the main peops from the last contest aren't trying this one. There's only like five of us. Thinking either everyone got burned out on badge hunting or just realized how much time they wasted that could have been better spent on other things... like gaming!

I know I'm not getting into this contest as seriously. Partly because there's no PS3 prize, but mainly because every time I try and get seriously into it, I end up knocking myself off the leader board with bad luck.
Phi0nix said:
Hmm I just noticed something odd. Since I've been monitoring the "Newest Members" section for badges, I have been able to keep up with who's recently joined. "theFished" joined about an hour ago, two hours at most, and within that time has accumulated 70 points rising to rank 30. Now I can understand a rapid accent to the leader board, and think it's great if someone is just that lucky. Still, 70 points in about an hour comes across as highly unlikely, but is admittedly still possible.

I remember this type of concern got brought up by Caramel Frappe with EvilTome18's and ravsters's sudden appearance on the leader board, and they both turned out to have done so legitimately with amazing luck. I hope it's the same with this case, but all the same I hope no one has found a way to cheat the system.
Well I can't help but think "cheaters" when I logged in last night to do the mansion/leaderboard check and saw 3 brand new accounts in the 10-20 positions. Again logged just now and there's a few more Sep 9th joinee's who are already up there with them. All the while I am stuck at 41 points after 5 days and countless badges.
 

Martin McManus

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Sep 9, 2011
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If it's any consolation, I just started today and can't seem to get past 47 points. After scouring the user list for about an hour, I noticed I just kept gaining a point, then losing a point. Really, it's what I get for showing up late to the party.
 

New Troll

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Mar 26, 2009
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Phi0nix said:
Hmm I just noticed something odd. Since I've been monitoring the "Newest Members" section for badges, I have been able to keep up with who's recently joined. "theFished" joined about an hour ago, two hours at most, and within that time has accumulated 70 points rising to rank 30. Now I can understand a rapid accent to the leader board, and think it's great if someone is just that lucky. Still, 70 points in about an hour comes across as highly unlikely, but is admittedly still possible.

I remember this type of concern got brought up by Caramel Frappe with EvilTome18's and ravsters's sudden appearance on the leader board, and they both turned out to have done so legitimately with amazing luck. I hope it's the same with this case, but all the same I hope no one has found a way to cheat the system.
Don't forget that any new player gets to play catch-up in the mansion where they could get lucky and pass us not-so-lucky players by. Personally, I don't really see cheating an issue in this game because it's way too luck based. Even if someone scripted a search engine for the badge like in the last contest, clicking on those badges don't guarantee anything. Could even just run them into the negatives!

But at any rate, I trust the mods and tech team to disqualify anyone they find abusing the game. So no worries. :)
 

New Troll

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Mar 26, 2009
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Phi0nix said:
On a side note, I'm really relieved to hear that if you're tied for 20th you're still in the running for the prize, but does it work that way for all ranks. What I mean is if you have 3 people tied for 3rd, 16th and 20th would all of them be considered holders of that rank? I ask because that would mean that 26 people would be eligible for the grand prize in my particular example. If that's the case then the chances of being one of the three people chosen from the top 20 goes down even lower. So, just wondering.
Nope. If you notice, all ties on the Leader Board are still ranked. Three people tied for 6th place are listed as 6th, 7th, and 8th.
 

Phi0nix

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Feb 10, 2011
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New Troll said:
Phi0nix said:
On a side note, I'm really relieved to hear that if you're tied for 20th you're still in the running for the prize, but does it work that way for all ranks. What I mean is if you have 3 people tied for 3rd, 16th and 20th would all of them be considered holders of that rank? I ask because that would mean that 26 people would be eligible for the grand prize in my particular example. If that's the case then the chances of being one of the three people chosen from the top 20 goes down even lower. So, just wondering.
Nope. If you notice, all ties on the Leader Board are still ranked. Three people tied for 6th place are listed as 6th, 7th, and 8th.
Right I understand that, but it's the same for all the people tied for 20th. Everyone has a rank, but would a guy who is 16th with the same number of points as a guy in 14th be considered tied for 14th. Thats how they are doing it for the 20th place, so I'm just wondering if that applies to all positions.
 

chaosbedlam

Senior Member
Apr 15, 2009
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i must say i am disappointed that being in NZ i am not eligible but i'm not surprised either.
it looks really cool.
i just hope that one day you will go international with your eligibility for prizes and let some other people in on the fun.
 

New Troll

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Mar 26, 2009
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Phi0nix said:
New Troll said:
Phi0nix said:
On a side note, I'm really relieved to hear that if you're tied for 20th you're still in the running for the prize, but does it work that way for all ranks. What I mean is if you have 3 people tied for 3rd, 16th and 20th would all of them be considered holders of that rank? I ask because that would mean that 26 people would be eligible for the grand prize in my particular example. If that's the case then the chances of being one of the three people chosen from the top 20 goes down even lower. So, just wondering.
Nope. If you notice, all ties on the Leader Board are still ranked. Three people tied for 6th place are listed as 6th, 7th, and 8th.
Right I understand that, but it's the same for all the people tied for 20th. Everyone has a rank, but would a guy who is 16th with the same number of points as a guy in 14th be considered tied for 14th. Thats how they are doing it for the 20th place, so I'm just wondering if that applies to all positions.
Again, nope. Ties prior to 20th place are irrelevant. Think of it instead of ranks, as being just the twenty people with the highest scores that go on. And if there's a tie for that last place, all those people apply for fairness.
 

tippy2k2

Beloved Tyrant
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Mar 15, 2008
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If you guys are paying attention to feedback and not just telling us that to make us feel better, I have some.

If you make a game like this (that's so random based), allow us to click on different objects in the room (kind of like a Deal or No Deal type thing, except instead of money, a monster tries to eat you).

Sure, it's still random but it feels more like what I'm doing matters. I've been scouring the boards and playing the game daily and I still can't break past the top 20. At least with the multiple items thing, it can seem like my actions are doing something, even if they really are not.
 

viranimus

Thread killer
Nov 20, 2009
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chaosbedlam said:
i must say i am disappointed that being in NZ i am not eligible but i'm not surprised either.
it looks really cool.
i just hope that one day you will go international with your eligibility for prizes and let some other people in on the fun.
Yes, that would be nice. Guess if anything youll have to settle for living in an insanely beautiful country with insanely beautiful people. Wait...
 

chaosbedlam

Senior Member
Apr 15, 2009
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viranimus said:
chaosbedlam said:
i must say i am disappointed that being in NZ i am not eligible but i'm not surprised either.
it looks really cool.
i just hope that one day you will go international with your eligibility for prizes and let some other people in on the fun.
Yes, that would be nice. Guess if anything youll have to settle for living in an insanely beautiful country with insanely beautiful people. Wait...

Well we are the land of the long white cloud so there's always a silver lining hahaha.
 

fmazz

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Sep 4, 2011
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I dont see how people have over 100 points in this. It is random chance. I'm not gonna call cheating but something is off.

P.S. I only have twenty something
 

Sight Unseen

The North Remembers
Nov 18, 2009
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fmazz said:
I dont see how people have over 100 points in this. It is random chance. I'm not gonna call cheating but something is off.

P.S. I only have twenty something
Well you could potentially (if you're lucky) get 40 points easily just by clicking all the profiles in the top 40 and clicking their undead zombie badge.

P.S. thanks for the extra point :)
 

viranimus

Thread killer
Nov 20, 2009
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Well.. Ill be honest. I have over 100 points in this and I have dumped almost 40 literal hours into scanning profiles this week, mostly between the last 3-4 days.

Beyond that It IS a degree of luck, Just like my mansion clicks were pure shit tonight.

So its not impossible if you put the work into it, Most of which wont have the time or patience to do so. Me, I spent half of my playthrough run time in ME2 purely on planet scanning, so this is something similar to me. I would estimate I have "scanned" about 5000+ profiles, and I have confirmed to have found at LEAST 167 Undead monster badges thus far. So even though I am at 106 right now, if you count in decent mansion clicks, Im only getting little better than 50% on Monster scanning.