Bug [1455582] —
Original article
Are your complaints being heard in Torn's most popular subforum? Which common scam causes the most reports? And how do you get a Bug Swatter? Read on to find out!
Down at the bottom of the Torn forums lies an area free of trolls and drama devoted to the inner workings of Torn. Exposing bare wires and the stench of coffee at 3 am, this place is most often visited by those who feel they've been shortchanged in a game of poker or cheating in a trade. I am, of course, referring to the Bugs & Issues sub-forum, a place which plays a crucial part in Torn life and is often the source of many changes to our fair city.
Housing over 18,000 bug reports, Bugs & Issues, herein known as B&I, is the busiest section of the forums.
The first thing you'll notice upon creating a new thread is the big red warning sign. Due to the huge number of reports received daily, staff request that you search for duplicates before posting your complaint. If the bug has not already been covered, they will then ask for screenshots and a description of the problem. Yet despite these simple requests, the number of duplicate bug reports B&I receives is staggering.
Pictured: The red text means it's serious!
The next thing you'll notice on your road to a refund is the number of kind-hearted souls who devote free time to sifting through your bug reports. These people offer suggestions and request further details which the devs may need to solve your case swiftly. One of these heroes is Stewie, a man whose post history consists of almost nothing but helpful advice for his fellow Torn citizens.
"I spend so much time there because I enjoy doing so. I love to help out the developers and the players with issues whenever I can. It's the main reason I continue to login. Of course, I love to actually play the game too but the feeling of knowing I might have helped someone is amazing."
"I would love if I was able to deal with reports in a more official way (as a staff member). I did apply to become staff 2 years ago but never heard back. I think it was right before applications were disabled though. I will continue to help out, with or without being staff."
People like Stewie have an encyclopedic knowledge of the B&I forum, and this allows staff to guide users towards identical or similar reports which have already been solved. They also come armed with suggestions, and if not, they know which information to ask for (a request which I've heard can be like squeezing water from a rock, blood from a stone, or any liquid from any solid object depending on your cultural references).
The final step involves having a staff member review your case, usually a moderator or officer who can either close the report or escalate it for developer review. 67% of all bugs are closed before they reach a dev's eyes, since most "bugs" are simply a case of our despondent citizens crying over spilt milk.
Stewie: "I believe, at the moment, the most reported issue is players' purchasing Vicodin instead of Xanax."
The issue to which Stewie refers involves a duplicitous trader listing both Xanax and Vicodin in their bazaar for the same price, hoping that an unsuspecting victim purchases the Vicodin by mistake for a Xanax-level price. Confused by their lack of an early morning high, the enraged citizen posts a bug report, only to be made a laughing stock by onlookers with comments of commiserations.
Pictured: A three act Torn tragedy
There have been a number of falsehoods and misconceptions submitted to the B&I section due to Torn players' penchant for scamming each other. One such example is Coin Set Not Giving Gym Gains, posted by the endearingly gullible Melted. Within this report, Melted explains how he purchased a full set of 13 collectables, for which he expected to receive a 3% boost to gym gains.
This expectation was borne of a rumour started by L4suicide after he amassed a large number of coins and wanted to increase their resale price. The plan worked a treat. L4suicide sold his coins at an inflated price. And instead of increased gym gains, Melted unlocked a healthy dose of embarrassment, while also learning a harsh lesson in trust.
But what about the real deal, when a bug is more than a simple misunderstanding or scam? That's when the real work begins, and with over 250 currently confirmed bugs the developers face a constant fight to patch these issues as quickly as possible. Their track record is exemplary in this respect, with nearly 6,000 bugs fixed at the time of writing.
Chedburn: "There's a list of developers and their expertise that the staff use. If the report falls in those categories they're assigned to those developers. Everything else or anything questionable goes to myself for handling or reassignment."
More than 30% of all reported bugs require some form of administrative intervention to rectify. This figure doesn't include larger issues not posted in the forums as knowledge of their existence could have devastating effects on the community. Players who make use of these exploits are heavily punished for their crimes. For those honest enough to report a potential loophole, the elusive Bug Swatter item is their reward, with six having been given out so far - along with a tasty amount of points too!
The first Bug Swatter was awarded to me, Bug, on 15/02/18 for reporting a session stealing exploit. For the uneducated Torn citizen, this means being able to login as other players (in this case Para) and commit any number of possible fraudulent activities - the fact that I am not rotting in Federal Jail right now tells you that I was and remain a very good boy.
The second was awarded to Bruce-LeeFFS on 02/06/18 for reporting an issue during a DDoS attack which duplicated $5.3 billion held in a ghost trade. The report resulted in the funds being deducted, and while you may think this represents an extraordinary act of honesty and stupidity, Bruce-LeeFFS would have easily have been caught had he chosen to keep his ill-gotten gains.
The third swatter was awarded to Juggernaut for finding a way to grant himself near limitless energy; up to 1,000 every 30 seconds! I'm sure others would have been less forthcoming with this knowledge, making Juggernaut one of the most trustworthy citizens in this crime-ridden city - so much so that I've just emailed him my online banking details in full.
The fourth swatter was handed out to CrimsonReaper on 30/06/18 for reporting a similar issue to Bruce which happened through Bookie Bets. Ched remarked that of the 45 citizens affected by this error, Crimson was the only one to come forward. He also remarked that CrimsonReaper had a "cool faction tag image", and this in itself made him more than worthy of a Bug Swatter.
The fifth Bug Swatter was given to our very own B&I guru, Stewie, in recognition of his valiant efforts in easing the process of sorting and fixing bugs. Scruffy was awarded the sixth Bug Swatter on 2018/07/27 for reporting a bug that granted him the ability to create any item he desired out of thin air, as most in his shoes would do, he immediately created himself a sweet new Bugatti Veyron to report the issue to Chedburn in style.
Chedburn had the following to say about Stewie and other such volunteers:
"I'm incredibly grateful to those in the community who step-up and help out. They certainly take a good chunk of workload off the developers. It certainly makes my life easier, even just rephrasing someone's bug report or adding screenshots for them."
"Often for me, that turns some confusing and poorly explained report that could take hours to figure out and reproduce, into a a quick two-minute job."
Ironically, during the research for this article, it was found that weapons in display cases are counted twice, leading to an inaccurate circulation graph for the Bug Swatter - there were only five in circulation at the time.
Furthermore, the process of writing this article highlighted a few bugs in the newspaper's text editor that were previously unknown to the devs. Everyone working on Bugs & Issues is doing a fantastic job in dealing with these loopholes and errors, all the way from the reporters themselves through to the staff and developers. But what can you, an ordinary citizen, do to help them? How can we reduce the huge number of false bug reports?
One possible solution is to make people aware of common mistakes and scams so they don't mistake them for bugs. Ignorance may be bliss, but it results in a lot of work for the development team. The Vicodin / Xanax ruse could be solved by dyeing all Xanax pink, or by documenting the scam in Torn's official Wiki. But Chedburn feels this isn't necessary, as he explained to the TCT last month:
"I suppose the most logical solution would be to change the item images enough so they're vastly, obviously different. I'm not keen on adding some direct checks / warnings just for this specific issue...this is probably one of the nicest ways for someone to be introduced to scamming - hopefully ensuring they'll be more careful during more high-risk situations in future."
Drugs 2.0 will likely solve this problem eventually, but perhaps another may come to fill its place. This reporter personally favours the idea of forcing bug reporters to view wiki pages related to their issue before requesting help. Tech support companies do this in the hope that you can fix the problem yourself before contacting a helpdesk.
Either way, we do need a solution to help those who work hard to rid our city of bugs and or issues. Reporting and fixing game errors prevents others from exploiting them, keeping Torn a fairer, more equal place for all. for the lesser bugs such as formatting issues, site inconsistencies and unintuitive gameplay, reporting these presents all Torn players with a smoother gaming experience.
Knowledge is power, so we can all do or part to help the B&I team by spreading the word about common misconceptions and scams. If we, the community, can work together to reduce the number of duplicate bug reports, this means there will be more time for Chedburn and his team to create new and exciting features for us all to enjoy.
So the next time you think you've found a bug, do your homework. Ask your friends, ask your coworkers, ask your factionmates. And if you're sure you've found an exploit, please report it immediately, because while the riches earned from keeping it secret are temporary, the Bug Swatter permanently marks you out as a citizen of fine moral standing.
Also, you could pretend it's equippable and sell it for shitloads. Nevermind, Ched made the item untradable. But you do get a shitload of points, so there's that.
Housing over 18,000 bug reports, Bugs & Issues, herein known as B&I, is the busiest section of the forums.
The first thing you'll notice upon creating a new thread is the big red warning sign. Due to the huge number of reports received daily, staff request that you search for duplicates before posting your complaint. If the bug has not already been covered, they will then ask for screenshots and a description of the problem. Yet despite these simple requests, the number of duplicate bug reports B&I receives is staggering.
Pictured: The red text means it's serious!
The next thing you'll notice on your road to a refund is the number of kind-hearted souls who devote free time to sifting through your bug reports. These people offer suggestions and request further details which the devs may need to solve your case swiftly. One of these heroes is Stewie, a man whose post history consists of almost nothing but helpful advice for his fellow Torn citizens.
"I spend so much time there because I enjoy doing so. I love to help out the developers and the players with issues whenever I can. It's the main reason I continue to login. Of course, I love to actually play the game too but the feeling of knowing I might have helped someone is amazing."
"I would love if I was able to deal with reports in a more official way (as a staff member). I did apply to become staff 2 years ago but never heard back. I think it was right before applications were disabled though. I will continue to help out, with or without being staff."
People like Stewie have an encyclopedic knowledge of the B&I forum, and this allows staff to guide users towards identical or similar reports which have already been solved. They also come armed with suggestions, and if not, they know which information to ask for (a request which I've heard can be like squeezing water from a rock, blood from a stone, or any liquid from any solid object depending on your cultural references).
The final step involves having a staff member review your case, usually a moderator or officer who can either close the report or escalate it for developer review. 67% of all bugs are closed before they reach a dev's eyes, since most "bugs" are simply a case of our despondent citizens crying over spilt milk.
Stewie: "I believe, at the moment, the most reported issue is players' purchasing Vicodin instead of Xanax."
The issue to which Stewie refers involves a duplicitous trader listing both Xanax and Vicodin in their bazaar for the same price, hoping that an unsuspecting victim purchases the Vicodin by mistake for a Xanax-level price. Confused by their lack of an early morning high, the enraged citizen posts a bug report, only to be made a laughing stock by onlookers with comments of commiserations.
Pictured: A three act Torn tragedy
There have been a number of falsehoods and misconceptions submitted to the B&I section due to Torn players' penchant for scamming each other. One such example is Coin Set Not Giving Gym Gains, posted by the endearingly gullible Melted. Within this report, Melted explains how he purchased a full set of 13 collectables, for which he expected to receive a 3% boost to gym gains.
This expectation was borne of a rumour started by L4suicide after he amassed a large number of coins and wanted to increase their resale price. The plan worked a treat. L4suicide sold his coins at an inflated price. And instead of increased gym gains, Melted unlocked a healthy dose of embarrassment, while also learning a harsh lesson in trust.
But what about the real deal, when a bug is more than a simple misunderstanding or scam? That's when the real work begins, and with over 250 currently confirmed bugs the developers face a constant fight to patch these issues as quickly as possible. Their track record is exemplary in this respect, with nearly 6,000 bugs fixed at the time of writing.
Chedburn: "There's a list of developers and their expertise that the staff use. If the report falls in those categories they're assigned to those developers. Everything else or anything questionable goes to myself for handling or reassignment."
More than 30% of all reported bugs require some form of administrative intervention to rectify. This figure doesn't include larger issues not posted in the forums as knowledge of their existence could have devastating effects on the community. Players who make use of these exploits are heavily punished for their crimes. For those honest enough to report a potential loophole, the elusive Bug Swatter item is their reward, with six having been given out so far - along with a tasty amount of points too!
The first Bug Swatter was awarded to me, Bug, on 15/02/18 for reporting a session stealing exploit. For the uneducated Torn citizen, this means being able to login as other players (in this case Para) and commit any number of possible fraudulent activities - the fact that I am not rotting in Federal Jail right now tells you that I was and remain a very good boy.
The second was awarded to Bruce-LeeFFS on 02/06/18 for reporting an issue during a DDoS attack which duplicated $5.3 billion held in a ghost trade. The report resulted in the funds being deducted, and while you may think this represents an extraordinary act of honesty and stupidity, Bruce-LeeFFS would have easily have been caught had he chosen to keep his ill-gotten gains.
The third swatter was awarded to Juggernaut for finding a way to grant himself near limitless energy; up to 1,000 every 30 seconds! I'm sure others would have been less forthcoming with this knowledge, making Juggernaut one of the most trustworthy citizens in this crime-ridden city - so much so that I've just emailed him my online banking details in full.
The fourth swatter was handed out to CrimsonReaper on 30/06/18 for reporting a similar issue to Bruce which happened through Bookie Bets. Ched remarked that of the 45 citizens affected by this error, Crimson was the only one to come forward. He also remarked that CrimsonReaper had a "cool faction tag image", and this in itself made him more than worthy of a Bug Swatter.
The fifth Bug Swatter was given to our very own B&I guru, Stewie, in recognition of his valiant efforts in easing the process of sorting and fixing bugs. Scruffy was awarded the sixth Bug Swatter on 2018/07/27 for reporting a bug that granted him the ability to create any item he desired out of thin air, as most in his shoes would do, he immediately created himself a sweet new Bugatti Veyron to report the issue to Chedburn in style.
Chedburn had the following to say about Stewie and other such volunteers:
"I'm incredibly grateful to those in the community who step-up and help out. They certainly take a good chunk of workload off the developers. It certainly makes my life easier, even just rephrasing someone's bug report or adding screenshots for them."
"Often for me, that turns some confusing and poorly explained report that could take hours to figure out and reproduce, into a a quick two-minute job."
Ironically, during the research for this article, it was found that weapons in display cases are counted twice, leading to an inaccurate circulation graph for the Bug Swatter - there were only five in circulation at the time.
Furthermore, the process of writing this article highlighted a few bugs in the newspaper's text editor that were previously unknown to the devs. Everyone working on Bugs & Issues is doing a fantastic job in dealing with these loopholes and errors, all the way from the reporters themselves through to the staff and developers. But what can you, an ordinary citizen, do to help them? How can we reduce the huge number of false bug reports?
One possible solution is to make people aware of common mistakes and scams so they don't mistake them for bugs. Ignorance may be bliss, but it results in a lot of work for the development team. The Vicodin / Xanax ruse could be solved by dyeing all Xanax pink, or by documenting the scam in Torn's official Wiki. But Chedburn feels this isn't necessary, as he explained to the TCT last month:
"I suppose the most logical solution would be to change the item images enough so they're vastly, obviously different. I'm not keen on adding some direct checks / warnings just for this specific issue...this is probably one of the nicest ways for someone to be introduced to scamming - hopefully ensuring they'll be more careful during more high-risk situations in future."
Drugs 2.0 will likely solve this problem eventually, but perhaps another may come to fill its place. This reporter personally favours the idea of forcing bug reporters to view wiki pages related to their issue before requesting help. Tech support companies do this in the hope that you can fix the problem yourself before contacting a helpdesk.
Either way, we do need a solution to help those who work hard to rid our city of bugs and or issues. Reporting and fixing game errors prevents others from exploiting them, keeping Torn a fairer, more equal place for all. for the lesser bugs such as formatting issues, site inconsistencies and unintuitive gameplay, reporting these presents all Torn players with a smoother gaming experience.
Knowledge is power, so we can all do or part to help the B&I team by spreading the word about common misconceptions and scams. If we, the community, can work together to reduce the number of duplicate bug reports, this means there will be more time for Chedburn and his team to create new and exciting features for us all to enjoy.
So the next time you think you've found a bug, do your homework. Ask your friends, ask your coworkers, ask your factionmates. And if you're sure you've found an exploit, please report it immediately, because while the riches earned from keeping it secret are temporary, the Bug Swatter permanently marks you out as a citizen of fine moral standing.
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