Word Ace Review

[thermodynamic]

Originally Posted by selfawaregames

Thanks, Dave - that's one data point in the "good" column - the two we have in the "bad" column have some other odd circumstances, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this isn't widespread... Every response would be greatly appreciated (PM me your friend code, and I'll add 10K chips to your account for the trouble! - that goes for you, too - DKatman)

Thanks!
seppo

Just loaded up both Card Ace and Word Ace, and my profiles and chip counts are working and accurate. Seems to be working fine on my end.

[wyld]

looking forward to the update, seppo! on another note, are you guys sending out notices or warnings before bans? i love playing your game at all tables and unfortunately when i play with sharks i have to swim like one as well if i wish to keep my shirt. but i'd hate for me or anyone else to be banned without fair warning while you guys are attempting to clean things up. thanks for all the hard work!

[selfawaregames]

Hi, Wyld - we've been giving people one warning before banning them. I understand there are a lot of people who've resorted to anagrammers to fight the anagrammers, but as you can imagine, that part is definitely impossible to tell - who's cheating because they're playing with cheaters vs. who's cheating because they're jerks.

So, yes - we're warning people before banning them. But please, play fair - the cheaters will get theirs. It may take a little time, but they'll get theirs. If you find someone who's cheating, instead of fighting back, just give 'em a thumbs down, and know that you've done your part to help us crack down on 'em.

(For the record, I know that a lot of the people we've warned/banned have been talking about the thumbs downs being the only metric by which we're tackling the problem - I assure you it's not, but it is a really useful starting point.)

Cheers!
seppo

[preftw]

First off this is easily the most used app on my phone. Its a fantastic game. Love it. I hate the cheaters as much as the next guy.

But I call shenanigans on the getting rid of cheaters. I say its impossible. And where are these people that have been warned/banned talking? Cause I havent seen any on any Word Ace related forums. Link mah!

You may assume someone one is cheating cause of the crazy *** words they are making, all the time, never failing. I learned to stay away from the 100k table..... But how does this prove they are cheating? I see tons of average word score 13 people (I struggle to stay at 11), most I "assume" are cheating. Most cant tell me what the words mean, or just dont answer. I still see the same old "cheaters" playing. They usually look like....$1.5mil....avg score 13.....best word yanquis......lol. Impossible to catch?

Looking at logs will......? I may be a good player and got PREXY for.....19pts? Then my lil brother takes my phone to play a few and starts whipping out CAT and POOP. Lil *******.

The only thing I can really think of to work is to force hands on your end. And watch em make those crazy *** words they have no choice but to make if they wanna win. Which sounds like fun to me. And sounds like ..... (gasp)..... cheating.

Or.....the people you have banned have been smart enough to actually say they are using a dictionary or an anagram solver. Easy nuff lol. But hardly resolves much.

Theres my little rant for the evning.

I know how to get rid of cheaters on my end.... Do another physical deck run dammit I missed out on the last one!! Chop chop!


ps: i dunno if it would matter much, but would the "mix" button not lag as much as it does if it just instantly changed the letter instead of shifting the letters around? like on the facebook app? cause it seems sloooooow when im trying to mix on my phone.

[selfawaregames]

re: Mix button - yes. It would be slightly faster if the tiles didn't animate the switch. Something we'd consider changing, as it should be consistent across all platforms, and currently isn't (though there's no physical keyboard on the iPhone, so complete parity won't happen anyway).

re: Cheating - I'm not going to talk about how we're banning cheaters, because the more information that exists in the world about what it is that we're doing, the more people will be able to game the system. What I can say is that originally, I thought it would be incredibly difficult to tell good players from cheaters, but it turns out to be not that tricky, given the tools we've developed.

Will we be able to ban all cheaters, 100% of the time? Probably not. But will we be able to ban a huge portion of them? Absolutely. It'll take some time, as we're still refining the process, but we will definitely be able to massively, massively improve the experience for honest players.

re: Physical deck - we'll almost certainly be doing a second run in a month or two. There's been enough demand to warrant one, it's just a matter of getting them printed again. It's a lot of work on our end, but the decks are nice enough that we'd really like everyone who wants one to be able to get their hands on 'em.

re: Warned/banned players talking - one banned player showed up and left a nasty note on the Self Aware Games forum. For the most part, it seems like warned users just don't want to give away the fact that they're cheating to other players, though. I've seen a couple in-game chats about people saying they were warned, but the vast majority never say anything to anyone, far as I can tell.

seppo

[selfawaregames]

Like Word Ace? If you can help us out by voting for it here: 2009 Best App Ever Awards :: Vote for Word Ace in Best Word Game :: iPhone and iPod Touch Application Awards for 2009's Best App Ever (Word Game), that'd be fantastic!

Thanks!
seppo

[selfawaregames]

Alright! Version 1.1 is out!

In-game gifts are finally in, and donations will be enabled shortly! I'm *really* happy with how the gifts turned out, and I hope you dig it!

Thanks!
seppo

[billythekid]

Originally Posted by selfawaregames

Alright! Version 1.1 is out!

In-game gifts are finally in, and donations will be enabled shortly! I'm *really* happy with how the gifts turned out, and I hope you dig it!

Thanks!
seppo

It's great how you keep us posted on here as far as updates and issues go. Thanks seppo, and I'll check out the update tonight!

[selfawaregames]

Originally Posted by billythekid

It's great how you keep us posted on here as far as updates and issues go. Thanks seppo, and I'll check out the update tonight!

No problem! The Precentral community was one of the strongest early supporters of the game, where (if you just go back and read through this post) we got a lot of great feedback and input. As we release new features, I hope people will continue to let us know what they like and what they don't, so we can keep making the game a better experience.

Thanks!
seppo

[DanPLC]

Is there anything you can do about people who bid $4000 every hand on the $4000 tables without even seeing any of the letters? I had one today (named "GoVikingsGo") who did this 3 times in a row before I left the table. You can't even play the game when this happens. Frankly I think this is as bad as cheating.

[selfawaregames]

Originally Posted by DanPLC

Is there anything you can do about people who bid $4000 every hand on the $4000 tables without even seeing any of the letters? I had one today (named "GoVikingsGo") who did this 3 times in a row before I left the table. You can't even play the game when this happens. Frankly I think this is as bad as cheating.

Unfortunately, given the rules of poker, that's a valid way to play. Thing is, it's a really stupid strategy in most cases - the exception is if the person is cheating, and they know that they can spell an optimal word all the time. If they're not cheating, there's nothing technically wrong with it - and you should be able to take a whole bunch of their money really fast.

seppo

[DanPLC]

Originally Posted by selfawaregames

Unfortunately, given the rules of poker, that's a valid way to play. Thing is, it's a really stupid strategy in most cases - the exception is if the person is cheating, and they know that they can spell an optimal word all the time. If they're not cheating, there's nothing technically wrong with it - and you should be able to take a whole bunch of their money really fast.

seppo

It's not just a stupid strategy. It also ruins the game for everyone else. The problem is the person doing it is usually someone with a lot more than $4000 in his pot (on a $4000 table). So one of two things happen when he does this:

1) Everyone folds because they don't feel like playing only 1 hand in a game. So then he gets everyone's ante money. If there are 4 other people on the table, he just gained between $700 and $800 without even playing the hand.

2) Someone bets because they're just sick of him doing this every hand. If they lose, they leave the table and they didn't even get a chance to play. If he loses, he still has money and just does it again.

In my opinion, betting $4000 on a $4000 table in the opening hand (before cards are displayed) brings no value to the game other than amusing one player. I think there should be a max bet limit in the opening hand (maybe $1000 on a $4000 table). I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on this.

[GoVikingsGo]

DanPLC and to seppobot...whether or not it is a valid strategy or not is besides the point. I have earned the PLAY MONEY CHIPS and therefor have the right to do with them whatever I please. Correct? I don't cheat at all and it does suck when you run into those who you can tell are cheating. My word average is only 10 and there are thousands playing this game out there with a higher average! My game has lagged since I downloaded it. I have played texas holdem for 10 years and learned in that time that you can play what or however you want at anytime(just dont cheat). The people who do use cheating devices and such will have less time to use it...therefor I will continue to shove. DanPLC...stop crying about a game when someone goes all in!!! Its not even real money! If your having a hard time winning you should try the 1-2 $40 tables. The game is a blast. And i would agree with someone else who stated in a previous post that you should develop something with fulltiltpoker. It would be a huge success to finally take my poker games on the go! Thanks for the hours of entertainment!

GoVikingsGo

Oh...and by the way...the other games that are out there are pretty weak. This one is by far the better of the games....still a few issues but nothing major and you keep updating it for us...Thanks. But you could definitely charge for this and people would pay! Especially being that some games you have to pay for blow goats!

[DanPLC]

GoVikingsGo, you have the right to play any way you like. But if you enjoy this game like you say you do, then it would be nice if you showed some consideration for other players who may also be there to enjoy the game. Just some food for thought...

[GoVikingsGo]

DanPLC...I play the way I want and therefor shouldn't have to defend the way I play. I do love the game. If you love the game also you should just realize that others can play how they want...you didn't ***** about others doing it...just me! I don't cheat and don't expect to hear anything else about this! Like I said if you don't like it LEAVE THE TABLE! Respect the way I play and leave it alone...Thanks...Good day!

[mrkurt]

selfawaregames: Have you guys considered releasing anonymous gameplay statistics? It would be cool to do some digging into those. In particular, I'd love to see how frequently players get the max number of points they can for a given set of cards. You could even do a Netflix type challenge and somehow reward people who can most accurately predict cheaters.

[mrkurt]

And as far as the "all in before the flop" people go, it's really very easy to take their money. Just be patient and fold until you get a "CK" or something, then go all in with them. They're statistically likely to lose the majority of the hands they play to the finish.

[selfawaregames]

Hey, all - I know it's taken a pretty ludicrous amount of time, but donations are finally live!

If you want to help support the game, you can purchase a donation star, which will sit by your profile for 30 days, and show people that you're helping keep the games running!

Thanks!
seppo

[selfawaregames]

Hello, Pre community!

Got a question for you. Have you played Word Ace, but then eventually stopped? If so... why? If not, what are the things that keep you playing the game?

Simple question, but undoubtedly, everyone's got a different reason. We'd love to hear your answers, as we're continually working to improve the games. New releases that add some stuff that 1.4 lets us finally add (like sound) are inbound, and a handful of new features will be following shortly thereafter!

Thanks!
seppo

[biggyfred]

My wife demanded some games and I didn't want to drop money on a few only to have her not play em. Loaded this one up a week or so ago and she gave it a try this weekend. She's hooked. Another week or two of solid play from her and it'll be worth dropping a few bills in your donation cup.

Thanks for a great little game.