bryanws wrote:No. Just no. Not only did it create greater inequality, but it did so at a greatly increased cost of investment and effort. Before, if you missed the moment, you tried for less than 5 minutes, saw it was too loaded, and moved on. You didn't get anything, but nothing except "checking on a browser tab to do something" worth of effort; very little effort and investment. This time, you had invest significant effort and time to get nothing. For most, this was an overall net loss of great significance. This was far worse than anything before. Woot basically wasted people's time and effort to give them nothing in return except errors, mockery, and increasing the difficulty.

I do hope people at Woot are fired for this and their unemployment benefits contested. You don't jerk your customers around, take away time and effort from them under the guise of a simple traffic staggering mechanism, and then proceed to use skinner box psychology on them in a distasteful manner.

I don't think you understand the spirit of WOOT. Relax and have fun. We have all missed out on the crapola due to shenanigans. It makes for good story telling! For instance the great Woot off crapup of 08.

http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=2116231&PageIndex=1&ReplyCount=10027

251 PAGES of comments. Read them as they are entertaining and will give you a better sense of what you are getting into when you become a Wooter. Just have fun. After all it is just crap.

bryanws wrote:No. Just no. Not only did it create greater inequality, but it did so at a greatly increased cost of investment and effort. Before, if you missed the moment, you tried for less than 5 minutes, saw it was too loaded, and moved on. You didn't get anything, but nothing except "checking on a browser tab to do something" worth of effort; very little effort and investment. This time, you had invest significant effort and time to get nothing. For most, this was an overall net loss of great significance. This was far worse than anything before. Woot basically wasted people's time and effort to give them nothing in return except errors, mockery, and increasing the difficulty.

I do hope people at Woot are fired for this and their unemployment benefits contested. You don't jerk your customers around, take away time and effort from them under the guise of a simple traffic staggering mechanism, and then proceed to use skinner box psychology on them in a distasteful manner.

Wow....bitter much? It was a GAME. Woot doesn't owe anyone more of a chance to win than anyone else. This evened out the playing field. No one OWES YOU or anyone else an $8 bag of garbage. If that's what you want, sent me your $8, and I'll send you some of what I have laying around the house.

I'm sorta glad to read all the crybabies on here who are gonna leave. Makes the odds better for me next time. :-)

I've been here for 5 yrs, have a black box (yes, I'm better than you), and just NOW got my 2nd EVER Big o' Cosmos.

I think you need to get over it and go on with life. Just sayin'.

evereddie wrote:Woot has gone from interesting and creative to assheals. Bye woot.

You'll be back. They ALWAYS come back. Muhahahahahaaa!

modifiedbears wrote:This would have been cool if it were possible to avoid getting an enemy on both lanes at the exact same time.

It WAS possible. I did it...after running into that very same predicament several times. I don't know if the secret which I noticed was the actual "trick" to it or not, but as soon as I did, I won the current level (4th) and bought.

You want a fair woot BoC experience? Go to a yard sale, blindfolded, ask the proprietor for a bag full of stuff that (s)he'd take $8 for, and then instead of taking it with you, ask them to mail it to you in a week or two.

Then, wait to see what you got.

That about sums up my BoC experience.

The challenge is successfully getting one. The reward, certainly, is NOT the actual contents, at least, not unless you manage to snake The Letter. And the odds of more than a handful of people getting that out of the 7499 sold bags is, well, something like 5:7499. Which are about the odds you have of, y'know, getting a bag of useless crap ANYWAY. Unless you go the aforementioned yard sale route. But, for God's sake, don't DRIVE to the yard sale with the blindfold on.

kfergus wrote:If is April Fools Day of course you do. Well done Woot. I, for one, loved it.

I second that!!!!

eq52515 wrote:Uhh...what happened here> About two hours ago I was reading this thread and there were 1076 posts on this thread...as seen from this link.

http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=4411027&PageIndex=27&ReplyCount=1076

And now...only 1015....as seen from the following link.

http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=4411027&PageIndex=26&ReplyCount=1015

Where did -at least- 60 posts go?

They are moderated. Usually links that allow bypassing the fun are immediately removed as are offensive comments. I have not seen justified criticisms deleted though, so they are honest at least.

goldenthorn wrote:I dunno. An assheal seems like a pretty interesting and creative use of medical technology? Hells, I'd take a few. For... research purposes. (Get on it, woot!) ((TWSS))

It's SCIENCE!

Game totally bites a big one. Got so close so many times, then 2 obstacles in the way at the same time killed my effin' snail. Total FAIL on WOOT's part.

I do hope it was just an april fool's joke. Still, there's better ways to sell stuff than Jatravartid games where you never win anything.

This game is pissing me off!

I can get every single house then BAM

Unavoidable death. There isn't a cohesive or tangible pattern. I havne't got past level 4

cstuckart wrote:Dear Woot,

Please don't do that again. I am old but still like my bags o crap, I prefer to purchase them the old fashioned way. Not so good with video games....nothing this time, super sad, only 1 other time and the kid made me give it to him.

Cari

i liked it Some people must cheat to get there Big o' Cosmos i mean ive gotten to the order page but thats it ITS HARD lol that was easyer no i didnt get one because of the bugs early on then sleep.

itsjono wrote:This game is pissing me off!

I can get every single house then BAM

Unavoidable death. There isn't a cohesive or tangible pattern. I havne't got past level 4

Don't worry as much about getting every target. Concern yourself more with avoiding getting hit.

The long and the short of my crapshoot tale:
Have a really bad cold. Took Nyquil. Checked woot! before going to sleep. Sleep? What sleep? There's a Big o' Cosmos out there! Game wouldn't load/ server issues till about 330am EST. Played for HOURS until all hope was lost/ level 10 sold out. Kept getting double-blocked at higher levels... "Winning level" kept going up. Then towards the end, everyone was posting those links to "win" without completing the required level.

Let's just say I was pretty unnerved by the people who played less than an hour and won.... (ahem, understatement? YES.)

Perhaps if I had just given the Nyquil to the moving enemies, I could have won and gone back to sleep?

kfergus wrote:Don't worry as much about getting every target. Concern yourself more with avoiding getting hit.

No way in hell that'll happen. I tried and tried, then it would throw 2 obstacles out at once. No way to finish the game unless you play it a thousand times.

I tried is for a couple of minutes and was not able to pass the test. So I left. You guys must be really doing quite well that you can design a system that turns paying customers away. If that was your goal, you achieved it!

After 7+ hours playing crapshoot, don't even ask me about my Nyquil-induced dreams about woot deivery snails...

nova73guy wrote:No way in hell that'll happen. I tried and tried, then it would throw 2 obstacles out at once. No way to finish the game unless you play it a thousand times.

I don't think I hit a thousand...

acegirlbda wrote:There were 100's of people battling the errors after beating level 3. People either stayed up and waited for the fix, woke up the next day to try again, or decided to just complain it seems.

My whole point is, Woot set up the rules, we followed the rules, and still didn't get what was supposed to be coming. Woot failed to hold up their end of the bargain. I'm not saying send everyone who got stuck a 1080P projector, but it would be a stand-up thing for Woot to do something. Like a free shipping code, or % off coupon or something. SOMETHING.

C'mon woot.... throw us another bone. There's still a few hours of April Fool's left! And I have Dayquil this time! :D

markpolkc wrote:I tried is for a couple of minutes and was not able to pass the test. So I left. You guys must be really doing quite well that you can design a system that turns paying customers away. If that was your goal, you achieved it!

Turn paying customers away? Hell, the descriptions berate everyone and people are FLOCKING to the site to try and order something. Maybe they're on to something. I'M going to start selling "Boxes of Poo", only $2+$5 shipping! I'll have this market cornered in NO TIME!

ya'll ain't right. made me late to work and i didn't even get to buy a Big Orphaned Cetacea.send me your address and i'll repay the favor by sending you a bag of my crap with no extra charge for the corn or peanut pieces. woot on

kfergus wrote:Don't worry as much about getting every target. Concern yourself more with avoiding getting hit.

nova73guy wrote:No way in hell that'll happen. I tried and tried, then it would throw 2 obstacles out at once. No way to finish the game unless you play it a thousand times.

Of course it will happen. And, yes, it took a bunch of tries, but, I made it to level 6 and got my bag. BTW, a lot of times the two obstacle situation was a matter of being on the right level and moving quickley between the obstacles and levels. I did it a few times. More luck than skill, though.

sightpicture wrote:I finished the game on Level 10 before it was sold out and it took me to the Buy it Now page with a HP Photo Scanner.. Was that the april fools? I figured the Big o' Cosmos. was sold out and it was now a Woot OFF? hmmm

I got the link and it took me to yesterday's page with the sold out bluetooth thingy. What a bust. I have mixed feelings about this latest incarnation of Big o' Cosmos sale. 3 years on woot and this was the first time i had half a chance. Still no luck though. Maybe next time.

g22angel1 wrote:Has anyone noticed, back in the day before Woot was bought out everyone would be waiting for 12:00 to hit cause they had such good items that they would sell out fast. Now 90% of the time i can go on the next day in the afternoon and still see the item. Lets not even get started with Woot Offs! Ever since Woot was sold to Amazon its become such crap. Its like Amazons place to unload all their garbage.
Sigh; I miss u Old Woot

G22angel1

You've got that right.

A couple comments. First, it's April Fool's Day. I assume everything anybody says is BS. Links, claims of cheating, claims of malfunctions - I don't believe any of it.

Second, the game is called "Crapshoot." My theory is that bags, points, whatever - doesn't matter. I'm guessing that for each level you play, you've got a 50/50 chance of making it through to the end. The rest of it is window dressing. Now, I'm not a math major, but I think this fairly accounts for the difficulty level. Apart from human error, server errors, or whatever, if you've got a 50/50 shot at each level, then your odds to finish through the end of a given level chances run like this:

Level 1 - 1 in 2
Level 2 - 1 in 4
Level 3 - 1 in 8
Level 4 - 1 in 16
Level 5 - 1 in 32
Level 6 - 1 in 64
Level 7 - 1 in 132
Level 8 - 1 in 264
Level 9 - 1 in 528
Level 10 - 1 in 1056

It may not even be that rigid. Anyway, I've gotten crap before, but couldn't make it this time. Hope most people had fun, despite the frustrations.

To

Holdenxyz wrote:why is every one so negative.

every one who didn't get on, stop being mad, you didnt get the joke the people that did got a bag. it was a joke. calm down.

and the people that got one and are complaining it took forever, you got a bag unlike the rest of us, so be happy you got one.

and every one stop being mad about the fake woot off. it was again a joke, woot got you calm down, they already gave you a chance to get a bag.

did you expect any thing less from woot. on april fools day.

I don't like jokes which waste my time Mr or Ms Woot apologist

Talk about crap .... April fools or not , it was juvenile! A waste of my time and to be sure a woot fit for fools

bret4000 wrote:I don't think you understand the spirit of WOOT. Relax and have fun. We have all missed out on the crapola due to shenanigans. It makes for good story telling! For instance the great Woot off crapup of 08.

http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=2116231&PageIndex=1&ReplyCount=10027

251 PAGES of comments. Read them as they are entertaining and will give you a better sense of what you are getting into when you become a Wooter. Just have fun. After all it is just crap.

Some people have poor taste in fun and stories. Seriously, it's people of this ilk that don't demand quality and accept whatever comes their way without question. Your efforts to regress the collective culture of the world have been noted.

Your April Fools joke was only slightly more appropriate and funny as the Aflac duck guys Tsunami jokes.

Stay classy Woot

troessler wrote:I don't like jokes which waste my time Mr or Ms Woot apologist

How you decide to spend your time is up to you.

pvvdds wrote:Talk about crap .... April fools or not , it was juvenile! A waste of my time and to be sure a woot fit for fools

An obvious observation. If the shoe fits.....LOL

I give up, I'm good at this game, but apparently I can't win this. Screw games of chance!

I, for one, thought this was a blast.

and woot overlords...I just got a new house. So, a doormat with "Oh lord, bless this rocket house and all who dwell within the rocket house" written on it would make a rather spectacular Big o' Cosmos.

brinux wrote:Wow, this forcing you to play a horrible game sucks!
I think I'll stop visiting woot.

Gee I hope they notice your gone at a avg crap of .3 woots a year

WoW I have a hard time with the K-Mart servers crashing during a regular Big Orphaned Cetacea now I have to play a fools game to get a bag of what may suck, Bye ,no more checking in the AM woot,I'm done

troessler wrote:I don't like jokes which waste my time Mr or Ms Woot apologist

Then don't play. Just pick up your marbles and go home already. Or was someone sitting there actually holding a gun to your head to make you try for a chance to spend $8 for worthless junk?

It's the PROCESS that's fun....the not knowing....the chase....the unexpected curveballs....not the end result. I sure hope you never end up in my end of the playground. Or Disneyland. I bet you won't wait in line to ride any of the really good rides there, either.

*Hands you a roll of Lifesavers Candy*

In all fairness, it was April Fool's Day. At least it was a real Big o' Cosmos, even if you actually had to work for it...

carl669 wrote:I, for one, thought this was a blast.

and woot overlords...I just got a new house. So, a doormat with "Oh lord, bless this rocket house and all who dwell within the rocket house" written on it would make a rather spectacular Big o' Cosmos.

Oooo, I just got a new house, too! That would be fabu!

scrabblewoot wrote:After 7+ hours playing crapshoot, don't even ask me about my Nyquil-induced dreams about woot deivery snails...

I am never ceased to be amazed that NyQuil is a perfectly legal drug in this country, while certain other ones are against the law. Hope you enjoyed your NyQuil trip!!!!