[WIP] mms-intercept: /message-type/spam: header: LENG IS RECRUITING!: RUN DECODE PROCESS

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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The communication device strapped to your wrist bursts and crackles into life. Another spam message has managed to burrow its way past the filter, again. Damn, Tsuba Corp really rip you off with that anti-virus crap, huh?

Just before you try to delete the message, the device auto-locks. Great, spam and a frickin’ virus? Your comms link puffs out a tiny cloud of strong, bad aftershave and a floating head hovers above your wrist. This is the first time you meet the man who will change your life.

Hello! Welcome to my message for you good soul! Please do not close this message, I have great offer to you!

Numerous flow charts and bar graphs materialise in front of his flabby, oily face. He’s looking at you with a big, stupid grin.

I am part of big enterprise and I want YOU to become part of our big expansion plan! I looked at all records everywhere and I find YOU to be the best!

Wonder how many times he’s used that line…

Listen, listen! You no have to sign contract yet! I always come to Gurlov’s after work, so you just meet me there after 8th light cycle, yes buddy?

Shit, he wants to meet? Well, I guess that’s different from usual.

Yes I go now and we speak soon later! Peace out!

The hologram dissolves into nothingness and your communication device goes black. The pulse of the metropolis level hums about you. Multiple small market stalls lie slumped and crammed against accommodation hubs. From a few Pyrex windows, the smell of steamed vegetables wafts out, crawling over your face and up your nose. The petty commerce district sprawls out for miles just up ahead. Its a network of bazaars, dark alleys and junkies, glazed over with a thick, sagging canvas canopy. Every street’s bristling with people hungry for things they can’t buy, haggling for the best bargain they can get. A small Arabic teahouse lies between two old, disused buildings nearby, old men and women sitting outside talking. Money’s been tight but you’ve always managed get a hibiscus and maybe something to eat from there. Calls to prayer and advertisements clash together and linger in the air, reverberating like ripples in a pond. There’s a throbbing swell of people and a cacophony of sound around you.

Now where the hell was Gurlov’s again?

Disclaimer: To clear up any potential confusion, this is not a spambot. I have written this thread in the style of the world I am attempting to create in a CoG project. In that case, I suppose you could treat it as an introduction of sorts to the world you can expect to encounter. It may not be the definitive introduction to the game or even within the game at all but I wanted people to understand what I am trying to do, feeling the best way to do this would be by describing it. I hope this alleviates any concerns to anyone reading this believing it to be spam or something to that effect.
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@fantom

That’s my guess, but I’m not 100% sure and I think others who stumble across this might not be either.

Hence why I suggested @jl provide us with some more context, so that we can see that they’re either a human or a spambot.

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@Turtler I will adjust the post accordingly.

@fantom Yes it is. Or at least a potential one.

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@_jl

In that case, I’d like to complement you on what you’ve done so far, and it’s always good to see someone else thinking about throwing their hat into the ring.

Overall, this intro is very, very solid. Some grammar issues here and there but I think they might be intentional; the real thing that shines through is the flair for description and setting things up. You do so much to establish what kind of genre this is, what kind of place “you” are in, and the finer little details like the “flabby, oily skin.”

But perhaps the most impressive thing I think is how you managed to get down the “internet/spam/automatic bot” stuff down, both in the thread title and in the intro itself.

It might not look like much, but it’s probably hard to perfectly replicate the sort of stuff an unthinking, annoying bot would throw up. But here you are doing it so perfectly I had some slim doubts that this was another spammer.

So you’ve got me hooked and looking foreward to more. If there’s any way I can help, just give the call.

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@_JL The title to this looks like it’s spam. I almost deleted the thread. Do you have an alternative title you’d prefer?

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@FairyGodfeather I would like to keep it as it is if possible, primarily because I think people might get drawn in by the title and (hopefully) maintain their immersion throughout the post. I completely understand if it needs to be changed, however and I can come up with another, less ambiguous one if needs be.

For the time being, would it be fine to have (WIP) in the title or something to that effect? Unfortunately I’ve run out of time to edit the post so am powerless!

@Turtler First of all, thank you very much. I haven’t written anything descriptive for years now and I can’t tell you how helpful you’ve already been by offering that feedback.

I’m glad you enjoyed the description of the place. I would perhaps change some of this come the game to fit in with user choices but for the moment, tried to keep it as ambivalent as possible so anybody reading it could relate.

This world is something I’ve slowly been building up over time and if you do have an interest in it, I am considering creating a ‘bible’ or ‘legendarium’ to accompany the game and it would be nice to have people take a look at parts they were interested in once in a while. This thread is also open to suggestions to add to the world and whilst I may not be able to include every one, I will certainly consider all of them.

Once again, thank you and I hope I continue to show yourself and others a future, interesting game.

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@_jl

For your sake, I’d suggest you should tell us more if you really are a human rather than a spambot.

People might take a look at this and think it is another leak in the anti-Spam measures.

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Is this an intro to a game?

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Okay I’ll leave it. It just really reads like a spam message to my mod eyes, especially since it mentions spam in it.

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@_jl

Going to be leaving in a bit so I won’t be able to get a clean, full reply out.

But in light of what FairyGodfeather said, I’d suggest you can keep the title but add in a little addendum to it to prove it isn’t spam.

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@FairyGodfeather Thank you very much, I appreciate it. :slight_smile: If it does get deleted by another moderator by accident however, I’ll create a new thread with a more explanatory title.

@Turtler Agreed. I hope the disclaimer I have added to the bottom of the thread will clear things up but I will state here too for anybody reading that the OP is not a spambot post but was merely a narrative device intended to create a world or story from the beginning, which I hope has been achieved.

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What a fabulous concept- and the execution so far is fantastic. Keep it coming!

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lol I almost skipped this as it did look like spam, but had so many post for a spam that I came in to check the hub bub. I like whats there, made me laugh and become intrigued.

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@Havenstone Thank you very much for your feedback. Like I say, this is the first piece of descriptive work I’ve written for years and to have you say that you like it is unbelievably satisfying. I will definitely continue to add more and more to this thread and I’ll hopefully be able to make my other project as interesting too!

@lordirishdas Haha well, hopefully come to think the same as you and eventually give it a read! Again, thank you for your kind words and I hope I’ll keep your attention as I write more. :slight_smile:

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I was certain that was spam until i see the number or post lol well done but i love some sort of option when demo arrives to do all possible to dont go that place and dont trust in the bot , so maybe he has to make more threatening order ?

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@Marajade Haha, hopefully with enough posts nobody will think it’s spam. Thank you for your feedback and I will definitely be including some options in the demo, perhaps for this situation or perhaps modelled from it. I agree, it would be very interesting to explore some of the places and have the option to do so as well as ignore Leng altogether. I will have to think about how I can do this.

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Perhaps you should add somethinglike (WIP) to the end of your title so no one else mistakes it for spam

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Just waiting for a tired mod to forget what this thread is exactly and close it without opening the thread… lol, sorry, but that’s just the sort of situation I see with that title.

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@Wyrmspawn I see it as a clever bit of marketing. “Viral” marketing if you will :slight_smile:

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@817819 I was thinking about it but I can’t any longer as my editing slot ran out. The hope is though that people won’t think the title is spam with the amount of comments on here and just treat it like another regular thread. The great thing about this community I feel is that it’s a nice, active one so hopefully the word will spread that this isn’t so bad after all!

@Wyrmspawn Haha hopefully not but if so, I’m more than happy to re do the thread with a more clear cut title. As it stands though, I really hope it doesn’t get closed because I’d like people to feel the tone of the world right from the beginning but understandably, I can see why that might not be possible.

@fantom Haha it was never my intention but it looks like it’s gone that way!