I think the Joke was the PINK 3x shirt I got with the woot "!" on it I gave up playing the game after about 30 min.

I thought this was a pretty good way of handling the situation.

matkapnyc wrote:I am a lawyer whose practiced a bit employment law in the past, and I do not see how this falls under the ADA. I'm pretty sure there are guidelines that federal agencies must follow to make their websites accessible, but I don't think that applies to private businesses. And, even if it does, I don't think Woot would be considered a public accommodation under that law. That said, who knows for sure?

Tell that to Target:

http://usefularts.us/2008/09/04/target-ada-accessibility-california/

StWacko wrote:Well, that's what you get for using an iPhone...

So, when asked if a Big Orphaned Cetacea will work with a Mac, the answer is gonna be NO.

luckily I scored one on level 1 and never even had to play the game.. that doesn't mean I didn't try to play.. I ran into the same problems all of you did. The link didn't work or I'd be playing and the game would randomly close for no reason.

I think I successfully played the game twice but of course, I died because of two objects lining up and having no where to go in order to avoid them.

Yay for level 1.

Too funny... While poeple here are padding themselves on the back, when woot sends out their c r a p they will be complaining they got ripped off and should have saved their 8 bucks.

There WILL be a lucky few who get something cool but don't expect gold for 8 bucks including shipping.

People love their mystery stuff but go take an 8 year old to a .99 cent store with 8 bucks in their hand to purchase anything they want. You'll get something nicer.

bsbrewery wrote:One more gargleblaster this is classic, first joke of the day will be the best joke of the day. Thank you WOOT you never disappoint!

Exactly! Hahahaa...awesome.

escalante wrote:Well even besides that, Woot did give "other" ways to win the Bag O Craap, not just by playing the video game.

I don't think those "other ways" were the ways Woot had in mind.

Are there no more woots? I thought this was a wootoff?

roms117 wrote:... I'm not whining at all.
...
I'm not expecting better crap just compensation for those that were playing within the posted rules and were not allowed to get their reward.

That sure sounds a bit like whining to me. They specifically say the context "... does nothing to distribute Bags O’ Crap according to the diligence or merit of the customer."

Isn't the whole ethos here that this is silly stuff that is awarded for pointless behavior, and with a very large possibility of no reward at all? Normally, the server goes down a lot earlier too! The whole Big o' Cosmos adventure is a exercise in amusing futility with just a tinge of possible and inexplicable reward. It's like a cross between a lottery and a Hitchhiker's Guide anecdote.

tomonline976 wrote:Too funny... While poeple here are padding themselves on the back, ...

I don't think most wooters need any more padding on their backs.

You should do this EVERY time Random Crap is for sale! I fell asleep last night before the bewitching hour, and if I would have checked this morning when I got up, I still would've had a chance, so my bad. But this does level the playing field for everyone, and I approve of this method. Kudos!

I can't believe so many people are complaining about missing or not being able to get a Big o' Cosmos. Woot can do whatever they want as far as selling their items. They can make you play a game, use a link 500 times, or throw in random server errors. If you don't want to go through all that, then don't try to buy their products. Enough people do want to go through all these hoops and with their item being sold out, I doubt woot is going to even worry about these people complaining.

I got my first bag in 4+ years, so I'm happy.

Five years and 30 or so woots later, I finally scored my first bandolier of carrots! Hells yes. I thought this was a great idea, and a slightly fairer way to distribute BOCs than just being lucky enough to get through to the order screen on a regular Big o' Cosmos day. Yeah there's some fine tuning to be done, loopholes to be closed, and maybe tone down the randomness a smidge, but overall it's a good concept.

All of you whiners need to get a grip. If you are working on no sleep, you forgot to feed the baby, your dog is sitting in a pile of his own feces, etc. cause you spent the last 6 hours shooting bags of crap from a rocket mounted snail, perhaps you need to re-evaluate where an $8 Big Orphaned Cetacea fits into the priorities in your life.

Okay, I take back my earlier comment about whiners.

It's one thing if you just sometimes can't win, it's another if you thought you won and didn't get your bag. I sympathize.

ikewil wrote:people wakeup. think about what if you had to play game every time that you wanted to but something for money like food oh wait some of you may like that like Hitler i know shocking but some people have to be shocked like that to bring them back down to earth

Huh?!?

I'm one of those frustrated people that were on here from 12:30 to 2:30am when it was only at level 3, that beat level 3, 4, and level 1 again only to get nothing. Grrrrrr. So I was sleeping when it actually started to work again.

As much as I found the game annoying, and spent way too much time playing it, getting server errors, and trying again, this was the one time that I was able to get a Big Orphaned Cetacea.

This time, rather than rewarding the few who either hammer the server, use scripts to alert or auto-buy bags of crap when they show up, or simply luck out, this was one Big Orphaned Cetacea that was awarded based on persistence.

It's a good model, because most of us are so disillusioned at trying to buy bags of crap amidst the server flood that we don't even bother trying. Woot is winning customers back with this tactic.

Heck, they should do similar things for the Woot-offs, because many people have been taught not to bother any more because all the "good stuff" will instantly sell out. All it takes is one instance of someone entering their credit card info only to be alerted with the "item is no longer available" BS that they are lost as a customer for a long time.

babalooo wrote:Yeah, now that is over and there shouldn't be any secrecy so others can't "win", whoever did get a Big o' Cosmos by playing the game, how did you get it or what did you have to do to unlock that link? Was there really something in the description that was a clue? I just want to know what or how I missed it! Thanks!

Yes there was. Move up and down really fast. By doing that you can pass in between the double obsticals.

On my winning run (needed to pass lvl 4), I had 3-4 of the double "Impossible" barriers. Coasted the middle lane through em

majekman76 wrote:You should do this EVERY time Random Crap is for sale! I fell asleep last night before the bewitching hour, and if I would have checked this morning when I got up, I still would've had a chance, so my bad. But this does level the playing field for everyone, and I approve of this method. Kudos!

I agree in theory.

I'd agree in practice too if the game was tested stable on all browsers and platforms, woot's servers could handle a million people downloading fl@sh content at once, and winning actually guaranteed you the ability to order. None of the three seem to have been true.

you know woot just set us up for more wild goose chases on the next Big o' Cosmos. Whether it's links, games, DOW digits, etc. I think woot accomplished today what they set out to do: 1. Coders and scripts don't get their crap just high scores. Illustrate that LUCK is part of getting the Big Orphaned Cetacea. Rewarding blind faith -on april fools day - that clicking into a link 50 times will get you a Big Orphaned Cetacea.

Well done woot, well done.

equazcion wrote:After winning when it was at level 1, pressing the "ridiculously big button" and then just getting a server error after 10 minutes, and then having the exact same thing happen again when it was at level 2, and then when I actually got a page following the big button it was just to tell me "item sold out", I then gave up.

Cute idea with the game, and ditto that you guys joke about refusing to add capacity. But the combination, throwing a performance-taxing game onto a situation where you already know the servers are gonna fritz out... well, that takes a special kind of hero. The kind that laughs when people fall down.

The "infuriating game" alone would've been the facetious cute you were going for. The opposite is true when getting there early and winning is rewarded with hangs and errors even worse than usual.

The game was hosted on a third-party server, so they didn't really "throw a performance-taxing game" onto the situation. The entire debacle was still absolutely humanic. To go through all of the nonsense and still end up with the same server errors. Or you beat the levels, and the game freezes and doesn't give you the gold button. Oh well. Win some/lose some. Live/Learn.

andrewkl wrote:Think about what you just said;"I'm mad because it was a glitched game that didn't work right, or crashed on alot of us."

What about it? The game was glitched as it would spawn things in both lanes that could not be passed, and the game crashed or would not load for alot of us.
I made it to level 7 when it was on 5 and I didn't get the buy option.

What is there to think about?

what a cluster f(*^%$, I have woot as my home page at work so I can spend a couple minutes buying things. Leave the games to amazon when it comes to ecommerce...

Well, when I made it to the confirm purchase page twice (level 1 & 2 )- only to be denied of my crap. Jatravartid idea Woot. Ready, fire, aim kinda idea.

i find it funny that only 725 of us managed to make it through the incredibly boring and annoying game lol

I tried this game for 3 hours, every time I got double teamed before level 5.

Nice joke woot, but I'll never do it again. I'm just glad I didn't get fired.

I guess that's why I love Woot! so much though... they are the only place on the internet more acerbic than me.

rich

Well now we play the waiting game. Hopefully we get something good relative to level. Us only being beaten by the tens. But we do beat everyone else. LEVEL 9's UNITE! Hahaha. Ill be posting here regularly until I get me sum dimensions and weight specifications. 2nd Big o' Cosmos overall and pretty excited

Joffroi wrote:....Woot can do whatever they want as far as selling their items. They can make you play a game, use a link 500 times, or throw in random server errors. If you don't want to go through all that, then don't try to buy their products.....I doubt woot is going to even worry about these people complaining.

No they don't care and won't care in the future. It's Arthurs like you that think a business not giving a Battlefield Earth (2000) is not only ok, but pats them on the back for it.

First Big o' Cosmos!

bryanws wrote:Tell that to Target:

http://usefularts.us/2008/09/04/target-ada-accessibility-california/

Thanks for the link. This is why I love being a lawyer, you learn something new every day.

I have not had a chance to read through the full decisions yet, but a couple of things strike me:

The plaintiffs relied not only on the ADA, but also on CA state statutes which are more broadly interpreted than the ADA. It looked like even if Target could get around the ADA claims, it could have been stuck with the state law claims which the court found would cover websites. Then again, a trial was not held so who knows how it would have played out in the end.

I am still not completely convinced that a web only company would face the same scrutiny under the ADA than a company with both a brick and mortar and internet presence. The ADA is pretty clear what type of public accommodations it applies to.

But, I have not looked to see whether any other court has followed this decision (which was contrary to some other cases finding company websites not bound by the ADA), so I have no idea what the final answer is.

DISCLAIMER - I am a lawyer, but not your lawyer. Nothing here should be considered legal advice (or even illegal advice), nor does my posting create an attorney client relationship in any way shape or form. Remember to never mix colors and whites in the wash using hot water. Lighten up, Francis, it's a $3 bag a crap, not your child's 529 fund. Don't go swimming right after you eat or you'll get a cramp. Know the Commandments - Crap is crap is crap. Don't forget to wear clean underwear. And for g-d's sake, don't forget your rubbers.

majekman76 wrote:You should do this EVERY time Random Crap is for sale! I fell asleep last night before the bewitching hour, and if I would have checked this morning when I got up, I still would've had a chance, so my bad. But this does level the playing field for everyone, and I approve of this method. Kudos!

No it doesn't. Leveling the playing field would be making a simple chance game that requires the simple click of a button and doesn't require a special plugin to use.

This worthless game was just stupidity and lack of any significant thought on design. Woot obviously doesn't have anyone who passed either psychology, economics, statistics, or design classes.

Pretty frustrating but I did score after they fixed everything. Being in the IT business for 13 years, I understand that things don't always go as planned. They fixed it and people got their Big o' Cosmos's. Thank you Woot! for the adventure. Till next year.

P.S. I bet it was a long night for the server guys.

So woot! is begging for a good review for their game eh? OK...here goes. The game is excellent. I love all the different maps and the graphics are fantastic. There are some excellent weapons to choose from (I'm partial to the Famas) and being able to choose your Killstreaks and perks is a great addition. I particularly like the Care Packages. Oh, wait...that's COD Black Ops. Let me see, something good about CrapShooter...um...let me get back to you on that one.

I realized I do not need any Woot! warehouse floor sweepings anyway.

SaintWacko wrote:I raged at first, because of the double blocking, until I stopped thinking about it as a game of skill and began thinking about it as a game of luck. After two hours of playing, I finally got a Big Orphaned Cetacea at level 5, no macros or cheating involved.

That's it in a nutshell, it was almost purely luck. The shooting and scoring had nothing to do anything, you just needed to get through alive. Sometimes the double blocking death was unavoidable (other than the mystical speedy fingers 3rd lane) but the obstacles would randomly change every 15 mins or so, so a recurring double blocking death spot would eventually disappear. I finally got mine at level 5 also, after a couple of hours of trying. That last game took a good half hour to get through though, and I swore to myself if I didn't get through on that one I was done for the night.

Just goes to show the allure of the Big o' Cosmos that I was 90% convinced the whole thing was an april fools joke but spent a couple of hours on it anyway.

I am not a lawyer, but I've watched one on TV. If watching a lifetime of David E.Kelley legal shows has taught me anything (and it hasnt) its that ridiculous claims of libel can only be defeated by hiring William Shatner to appear in court in his boxers while smoking a cigar and drinking scotch.

All hail the Battlefield Earth (2000)!

This was ridiculous method to sell the Big Orphaned Cetacea and a waste of time. As a first time buyer and an adult that does not play video games it was totally disappointed. Next time just do it the old fashioned way. First come, first to buy.

This is really over the top Jatravartid. I am not impressed - and obviously, not playing the silly - arsed game, either.