Club Live cheating

Recently, I found out about Club Live by Microsoft. This is a service that by playing word games that utilize Microsoft's Live Search service you earn up tickets. With those tickets you can get various rewards, including the top reward being an xbox360. Now, I've wanted a 360 for a while, but the price tag has always been a deterant for the amount of enjoyment that I predicted I'd have with it. See, I have a Wii, original xbox, Dreamcast, Saturn, GameCube... well, you get the idea. Another game console is always a bit of a harsh decision at this point, but I really like the concept of the 360 and what it brings to the table. So I start playing, and I've earned up 13,000 "tickets". Now I'm doing some research as I'm running out of games to play (both the Chicktionary and Flexicon games are locked out to me -- seems I've played all the possible puzzles), and I find that folks have been using cheat programs in order to gain multiple copies of the same reward for whatever reason.

So.. because of these cheaters the costs of the rewards have gone up, but the number of puzzles haven't. Thus the people that are actually doing the puzzles to get the rewards are faced with an issue -- some of the rewards may not be attainable. This cheeses me off. The fact that cheaters are ruining the experience for the regular players is something that always upsets me, and this is no exception. Thus, I'm writing the following to Microsoft's Help service, the head of the Live Search Division, Steve Balhmer, and whoever else I can find to send it to. Hopefully I'll get some level of response.

There seems to be a lot of concern in various forums about the cheating that
seems to have occured inside of Club Live, and the impact that it is having on
the players that are playing the games and not using outside programs "cheat"
for them.

My main question is this - is it currently possible to earn
enough points to actually get the xbox 360 bundle reward? I've earned up over
13,000 points, but the games I'm enjoying are telling me that no more puzzles
are available. I'm trying out the new games you have provided, but it seems at
least according to the leader board that you have up there, that the number of
tickets that are required to get the 360 package is unattainable.

I can
fully appreciate the problems that you are experiencing with the service, and I
think that this system is an awesome idea by Microsoft to get traction in
markets where you have recently been struggling. My concern is that the
"cheaters" are going to cost you the folks that are helping out your market
strategy.

I'd suggest that you consider some of the following concepts
that several of us that use the games legitimately have come up with -

1
- impose a rule on the rewards where you can only get a single type of reward
per physical mailing address. In a quick "Live Search" on the topic, I found
numerous message boards where folks are openly stating that they used outside
programs to complete the ticket requirement, and have ordered multiple rewards
to the same address. This includes copies of Windows, Office and Zunes.

2 - impose either shipping & handling or sales tax for the item.
Personally, I would have no issue with paying only the sales tax and/or a
shipping and handling charge for my reward, but for cheaters looking to 'resale'
the item, it would become some level of deterrant.

I'm sure there are
other concepts that you or your loyal customers can come up with that can help
twart these folks that are really ruining the concept of this service, without
having the service itself be disrupted (like it has recently).

Thanks!

--bl

Greenville

Spent the last 2 days in Greenville, SC. Been talking to folks, and learning about the new "surf & turf" that the two companies have become.

It's amazing how companies can develop 600 miles apart, and still make others welcome and have similar experiences. Trying to figure out "what group would you prefer to be in" has been extremely difficult for me. I'm not one to make decisions easily, and definitely not ones that are as "life impacting" as these. I've been praying about the possibility of change for a while now, but now it comes down to figuring out what God really wants for me. Part of me is worried about making choices and upsetting folks, and part of me is worried about making the "wrong choice". I think, though, that the worst choice would be "not making a choice".

I've had a chance to meet and talk with a bunch of very great people. I'm genuinely excited to think that I will continue to be part of an organization that is providing services folks use every day, and we are "outperforming" the competition. While Mike has stated that "we are the winner", once you see the group of people that are all making things happen, you can sit in your own little world and wonder about it.

After what I've seen... we are the winner. A group this talents and this dedicated to providing a top notch solution will not fail to meet it's goals.

Fostering...

This was an interesting week, before it started. On Saturday we went out, and ended up signing up to foster a dog from one of the rescue organizations here in Orlando for a week. The intention was to make sure that the dog would acclimate properly to the environment and adopt, but by Sunday night we already had doubts that we were ready for the level of commitment and responsibility that it was going to entail.

The dog's name was "Dakota", and we ended up sending her back this morning to be with the shelter. She was a Shetland Sheepdog "mix", we think with a Japanese Shiba, and was an amazing animal. She had been rescued from a Georgia kill shelter, but she was young. It's amazing that a 5 month old animal would be put down, and couldn't get adopted. She was energetic and definitely adopted us as at least playmates for the little bit of time that we took care of her. For example - she didn't get taken on walks, she took you for runs. Her whole body would wag when she was excited, like when you got home...

We just didn't have the space she needed, and the kids weren't ready for the level of commitment it was going to take. They are used to a cat, and ours is the kind that you can do almost to and she doesn't go bananas to you. The kids are in many ways "spoiled" by that, and I think that Christy and I are as well. She was also a puppy, and even house-broken puppies need a lot of attention and a level of care that is "above and beyond" that an older dog needs or wants. Just to top it off, she was rescued from a kill shelter. I think given enough time, effort, commitment and love, she would have been incredible. Love alone just wouldn't have been enough.

I know that we will look at the "fostering/adopting" process again in the future, but right now I don't think I could. She's only been back at the rescue since around lunchtime, and I already miss her. I missed her before we took her back, but I also knew that it was definitely for the best that she went back. I know she'll make an amazing pet for someone, and someone will love her as much as we do and provide her the things we can. It doesn't mean that I won't miss the time that we had.

MLB vs Slingbox?

Okay, for the record I think that Major League Baseball jumped the shark a long time ago. This has to be a crowning achievement for them, though. To think, just because someone is watching a game that they didn't pay for on their subscription service (MLB.tv), they want to sue the people that make it possible.

Maybe they should sue Brighthouse or Comcast next. I mean, they are broadcasting the games into people's homes via a cable instead of over the airwaves! How many more people can Major League Baseball disenfranchise and drive away from their revenue stream?

"Popular" Science

Yes, I know that it's the name of a magazine that's been around since the 50's, or 1872 or whatever. What I'm referring to is the concept of mass consumption of the theories that are put out by researchers while attempting to explain the universe. And boy is it frustrating to read, knowing that folks are hanging onto some of these hypothesis' as fact.

My example for today is the "Wunder Blog" by Jeff Masters. I found the article, and his blog, rather interesting; in fact, I found that the concept that ocean life could play a major role in our climate is astounding. What I found disheartening is the fact that he states in the blog that "While the authors admit that their calculations may have large errors, this research shows that marine life may have a heretofore unappreciated large impact on Earth's climate"; he states that the "proof" of the concept is unsound, but the results are not! This is not the foundation that our scientific "forefathers" set forth, and definitely not a part of any "scientific method" that I've used both in school and outside of school. This is more like the "facts" that religions used in ancient Rome and Greece than anything else, to be honest. There is a hypothesis, some calculations, and a result. But the result is not proof yet, because the calculations are under speculation.

I really don't have a problem with this being spread as a "theory", but sadly most people today have no clue what the difference between theory and fact are anymore. They do not allow their minds to have conflicting concepts and linger on it like a wine connoisseur would let a flavor linger and appreciate it for the possibilities that it has. They take all "theories" as facts, and one cannot overlap another. If the conflict, one must be right, and the other has to be false. This "fast food" science intake is creating a society that really does not want to think for itself, and I fear for that.

Low Country

I had a chance to spend a few days up in Connecticut last weekend, and it's interesting to really look at places, people and things when you travel. My family is originally from the central part of the state, and we happened to be there to intern my Grandfather's ashes. For those that haven't been there, the Central part of Connecticut is full of large hills (I'm not sure I'd really call them mountains) that consist of a lot of rock. The roads in many places are cut into the sides of these, and at times you'll be on a road and be at rooftop level of the houses just beside you.

Then, you can travel less than an hour, and be to the "low country" of the state. They are not directly on the Ocean, but rather their beaches are on Long Island Sound. You can see Long Island in the distance. There aren't really "waves" like a Florida-boy would consider them, but it's not still waters, either. The land is rather rocky, and the sand on the public "beach" we went to was much more coarse than I'm used to.

The thing I was amazed at was how much more I was drawn to the "low country" than I thought. I don't know if that's because I grew up on the beach or not, but I've found that while I'm not drawn to the concept of going "to the beach", I like the areas that are by the water. I find I'm more at peace for some reason. Maybe the concept of the vast ocean calms me or something.

Future

One thing that I'm not, is patient. I've learned to force myself to do a lot of things, but in general the ability to "wait" has never really been in my nature. Waiting to see what the future holds, and not being able to interact with it is a very frustrating thing for me. It makes me become introspective and question what I'm doing with my life and if where I am is where I should be.

Am I doing the right things? Is the path for the future what I want to be doing? I have always had problems "seeing myself doing what I do now in 5-10 years", and I've been doing this same type of job since 1994. I started doing it as a help-desk position at UCF, and it's grown into a career. I just have never really seen where it's leading to, I just focus on the now and the things I need to do to take care of my current needs, seldom looking at my future goals.

At some point, things change. Time for hobbies and being introspectively visionary gives way to doing the dishes and taking out the trash. The problem really becomes times when you really notice it, and how you deal with it.

Right now... I'm not dealing with it very well.