@sandeep, that's very interesting! i never thought about the fact that your facebook friends would be able to find the bonus links so easily. lol. anyhow, not to worry. there are going to be additional ways to earn points that will require everyone to be on their toes and to also actually read the articles.

on a different note, i'm glad that you've realized the true value of the competition is reading some great gmat/mba articles. we tried our best to pick good ones for the bonuses. and so i hope that everyone who participates in this game will get something great from it whether they win the grand prize or not.

Well sorry but i have 2 confusions

1)How are number of likes alloted to users(per day?,unused likes?...)
if i am alloted 4 likes per day and i dont use it with in a day ...can i use it next day or it just goes away...

I want to make wise use of my likes but unless it is clear how they are alloted bit confused?

2)First draw will be made on (22nd-29th sept..)?
will the score of the weekly winner published here?(i know it is lukcy draw)
or will the total potential point published here(i mean maximum possible point with in a week)?

I re-read rules didnt find any thing for this...so bit confused...i am totally into game...he he

DavidP wrote:
@euro, can you please share what made your initial experience frustrating? we'd love to continue improving this game. and if the initial experience is frustrating, i'd like to figure out how to make it a bit less frustrating.

Hi David!
I am using forums on beatthegmat to learn strategies on attacking Quant and Verbal sections. The forums are easy to use and have lot of good stuff in them.

When the $100K challenge started, I got carried away by it. In a bid to earn max points, I spent more time looking for the right articles to "Like" instead of focusing on the study material available. This caused distraction to my regular study routine. I was frustrated because inspite of spending several hours searching, I could not find the right articles that will fetch me points. I plan to appear for GMAT in about 30 days and want to put my preparations in high-gear. But, I was met with this digression.

However, I have now realized that in the process of searching, I discovered "hidden treasures". The resources available on beat-the-gmat have a lot more breadth and depth than one could ever imagine. The articles are stupendous and should prove helpful in the coming months. I think I have benefited in the process. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the 100K challenge is a great way to brush-off dust from older articles and bring them to the limelight.

@frank, thanks for all the questions.. i realized that the rules aren't clear enough yet. so will be adding more to them later tonight. in the meantime, here are the answers to your questions:

1. how are likes allocated each day? you basically get 5 opportunities to like per day. these opportunities are a "use it or lose it" type of opportunity. if you don't use up all 5 likes in that day, they'll just go away because the limit will get reset the very next day.

2. will players get to see the points of the winners. yes. we're going to be publishing a leaderboard that shows everyone's points. the reason you haven't seen it yet is because i haven't had the time to code it up yet. but it's one of my highest priorities.


@euro, thanks for sharing. hmm. we definitely don't want to hinder our players' studying for the gmat. doing so would be completely counter productive. i've been thinking about how to make some fine tuning adjustments to the game play so that you don't have to waste time looking for articles. but the game will become a bit more demanding so that people who put in more time get more points. will publish an update when i figure things out.

DavidP wrote:@frank, thanks for all the questions.. i realized that the rules aren't clear enough yet. so will be adding more to them later tonight. in the meantime, here are the answers to your questions:

1. how are likes allocated each day? you basically get 5 opportunities to like per day. these opportunities are a "use it or lose it" type of opportunity. if you don't use up all 5 likes in that day, they'll just go away because the limit will get reset the very next day.

I didnt know that ....so may be missed some points then ...as most of the game where you have to preserve powers(bullets,boooombs) for later stages ,i thought peserving it will help me later to use it in right post using the business mind...lol....This would have made game more interesting ....wise use of likes...using likes in right time in right post.....5 Post every day ...5 likes alloted...it becomes all mathematical just clicking likes for all...and some bonus...
I feel the motive is greater participation but if we add "interesting things" eventually participation will increase itself....after all its called game......

DavidP wrote:2. will players get to see the points of the winners. yes. we're going to be publishing a leaderboard that shows everyone's points. the reason you haven't seen it yet is because i haven't had the time to code it up yet. but it's one of my highest priorities. .

As a player i am very happy to know that.But if i were organizer i wouldnot have done this...lol....It can have both positive and negative impact on game(just what i think ...i may be totally wrong..)..any way thanks for it.

DavidP wrote:....make some fine tuning adjustments to the game play so that you don't have to waste time looking for articles. but the game will become a bit more demanding so that people who put in more time get more points. .

Isn't motive of bonus point all about searching thing and in that process learning ....for eg,i went back to post of years back may be in search of bonus point post but infact i found so many other interesting posts and read it (i think i would not have done that if there wasn't this contest...) so in process learning lot......

I think it adds up interest to game as well....otherwise for many ,it may be just clicking likes and you are in...in the lucky draw.....no real labor done....
just my personal thought as a well wisher of the game(not an arguement or something like that...)
Keep up good works....
thank you

@Frank1 Game is not as easy as it seems simply clicking 5 likes daily for 5 posts... david is playing very smartly....He slowly wants to beat all the pawns out of game with his queen of bonuses and likes....
5-6 posts back i asked him question about unliking..He dint answered that..but now i have got my answer,, how silently he is playing with us......

Hey David I have one problem..I liked and shared one article on my FB wall..it was worth 8 points...Now while i was doing R & D as u know me i keep doing,i removed the shared post from my FB wall..Although the GOOD point is the post got deleted from wall and my points are still as it is,but the bad thing is post is not shared on my wall anymore which i dint want..i thought i can share it again by going to that post,.....Please help how ill it affect my scoring if any?i really hope that it wont since it was not known earlier to me....or help me to share it again so that my points dont get affected plzzz......

@frank, thanks for the comments/suggestions. here are my thoughts:

"difficulty of the game"
you're right. if we just make this game about clicking on likes/shares, then it's just a mechanical operation that isn't much fun. but finding articles isn't going to be the only thing that we'll reward. there are at least 2 or 3 other activities that we're going to reward even more than just finding/clicking on articles in the next couple weeks. also, right now, bonuses stick around for 48 hours. but in the near future, bonuses may come and go much more quickly... so i hope that this game will still be fun even if we making "finding" articles easier.

fyi, i hope that you and the rest of the players understand if we make some adjustments as we go along. since this is the first time we've ever made a game like this, we're learning a whole lot and want to make the game increasingly fun (and rewarding) as it continues.

regardless of any adjustments that we make, we'll always make sure that the "hardcore" players who spend more time/effort playing the game will get rewarded with more points than players who don't spend as much time/effort playing.


leaderboard
i'm a huge believer in transparency. imo, the game will get more competitive and interesting if people know how they rank against others because people are inherently competitive.

frank1 wrote:

DavidP wrote:@frank, thanks for all the questions.. i realized that the rules aren't clear enough yet. so will be adding more to them later tonight. in the meantime, here are the answers to your questions:

1. how are likes allocated each day? you basically get 5 opportunities to like per day. these opportunities are a "use it or lose it" type of opportunity. if you don't use up all 5 likes in that day, they'll just go away because the limit will get reset the very next day.

I didnt know that ....so may be missed some points then ...as most of the game where you have to preserve powers(bullets,boooombs) for later stages ,i thought peserving it will help me later to use it in right post using the business mind...lol....This would have made game more interesting ....wise use of likes...using likes in right time in right post.....5 Post every day ...5 likes alloted...it becomes all mathematical just clicking likes for all...and some bonus...
I feel the motive is greater participation but if we add "interesting things" eventually participation will increase itself....after all its called game......

DavidP wrote:2. will players get to see the points of the winners. yes. we're going to be publishing a leaderboard that shows everyone's points. the reason you haven't seen it yet is because i haven't had the time to code it up yet. but it's one of my highest priorities. .

As a player i am very happy to know that.But if i were organizer i wouldnot have done this...lol....It can have both positive and negative impact on game(just what i think ...i may be totally wrong..)..any way thanks for it.

DavidP wrote:....make some fine tuning adjustments to the game play so that you don't have to waste time looking for articles. but the game will become a bit more demanding so that people who put in more time get more points. .

Isn't motive of bonus point all about searching thing and in that process learning ....for eg,i went back to post of years back may be in search of bonus point post but infact i found so many other interesting posts and read it (i think i would not have done that if there wasn't this contest...) so in process learning lot......

I think it adds up interest to game as well....otherwise for many ,it may be just clicking likes and you are in...in the lucky draw.....no real labor done....
just my personal thought as a well wisher of the game(not an arguement or something like that...)
Keep up good works....
thank you

@sandeep, thanks for sharing this issue. you're fine. but i'm going to make an update to the rules. basically, the winner of the grand prize will need to become friends with me on facebook during the live event where we announce the winner. if eric and i notice that the winner deleted most of his/her likes+shares, then that winner will forfeit the grand prize. hope that this takes care of the issue that you've identified.

fyi, i'm planning on releasing an updated set of rules and clearer/simpler "how to play" page in the middle of this week.

sandeep800 wrote:Hey David I have one problem..I liked and shared one article on my FB wall..it was worth 8 points...Now while i was doing R & D as u know me i keep doing,i removed the shared post from my FB wall..Although the GOOD point is the post got deleted from wall and my points are still as it is,but the bad thing is post is not shared on my wall anymore which i dint want..i thought i can share it again by going to that post,.....Please help how ill it affect my scoring if any?i really hope that it wont since it was not known earlier to me....or help me to share it again so that my points dont get affected plzzz......

@frank, i had been meaning to ask you but kept on forgetting. so what do you think of our little game? i know that the game is pretty basic. but would love to hear any feedback that you have as a fb game developer. feel free to reply to this message or to pm me.

@David,
I admit I asked for some clue in my earlier post, but it seems it turned out to be a red herring.

The articles published on BTG are indeed a resource full of invaluable treasures and I am glad a majority of MBA aspirants including me, are getting benefited via the GAME. I think The GAME is turning out to be a success!!

DavidP wrote:@ashokkadam, i'm glad that you're starting to find the signposts. my guess is that few people are going to be willing to give out hints. he he..

DavidP wrote:@frank, i had been meaning to ask you but kept on forgetting. so what do you think of our little game? i know that the game is pretty basic. but would love to hear any feedback that you have as a fb game developer. feel free to reply to this message or to pm me.

I am lovin it
I think it can really provide life time oppurtunities and experience for many....

Concept is really good....

I have developed facebook applications(no facebook games so far...) around 10 in my last count and most popular has about 80k users.Personally in facebook,when i code i think on
How to make thing interactive....with lots of changes in facebook platform wall feeds only seems to be good intregration point left(profile box gone...application notification...profile tab going soon...)
Making things more reaactive :With qualifty feed published only half work is done,if user's friends doesnt pay attention to it or donot react to it....we miss some oppurtunities......
Right content,right time and right amount:If too many feeds are published with in short period then people will start not paying any attention towards post published by a user...or user himself gets bore....feel wall is all dirty and remove the application.So combination of right things is necessary...
Repeated usage:I know they use facebook everyday.People use good application every day....things that can bring visitors back...
and some few more....

i dont mean that this game may do this(all even may not apply),but these are the things i think of when i make things considering biggest social networking site of world.

To be frank,about this game,i am not aware about all the rules(learning as it is going) so i think it may be too early to comment ....
any way great concept,great game...
thanks for it
just my personal thoughts....

Hi Eric,

I have a question...does the hints given on the bonus page will always lead up to an article or could it be a forum post too??

And second, does this article/forum post (that we land on from the bonus page) will always have that signpost??

Thanks.

@frank, thanks for the tips. regarding the rules, my plan is to lock them down this week so that the game is predictable. the worst thing to do would be to continually change the rules as people play them. would love some help from you and the others in this forum to review the rules for clarity before i announce any changes.

@ugoyal, the hints on the current bonus page only lead to an article for now. soon, we'll be adding hints for forum posts. and finally, the articles (and soon forum posts) will always have signposts if you can earn points from them.

DavidP wrote:@frank, thanks for the tips. regarding the rules, my plan is to lock them down this week so that the game is predictable. the worst thing to do would be to continually change the rules as people play them. would love some help from you and the others in this forum to review the rules for clarity before i announce any changes.

@ugoyal, the hints on the current bonus page only lead to an article for now. soon, we'll be adding hints for forum posts. and finally, the articles (and soon forum posts) will always have signposts if you can earn points from them.

Hi David,
I think most of the problems have already been discussed by as and u have already updated the necessary changes..
Also i will say Our latest discussion of deleting the post needs to added along with adding u and eric as friend in late events..

Most of the rules get clear from the rules page and help page also i will say that since 3-4 us are only showing interest and coming up with issues either its easy for other players or they simply not interested in discussion..
So u can add these minute changes like wont be able to unlike once done,or deleting the post from FB or additional information regarding disclaimer and T & C page ...also as u said u will come up with the list of ranks i am eagerly waiting for that page..so please try to put it Asap...also ur rule said u will be mailing the winners and they need to share on FB wall in a week?it means nobody will come to know who won or who dint except those getting mails?i think u should have a separate page where ranking are there and also the name of winners each week..that will be fair for all i suppose!!!!otherwise people may start objecting that who is winning we cant see and may be problematic in last moments for u.....Also some1 may object he dint got mail it was in spam or something.......
These are the only few things right now in my mind..i am trying to to have a look at contest whenever i find time so will update ASAP if i find some changes required...

also put a claim that having 100 points doesnt necessary mean u will mean and having 10 points also doesnt mean u wont..coz some may object i had 10 times more point how could that person win his ranking is least and all...so do tell about the process of selecting winners with this disclaimer!!!!!!