Aargh! When I entered the area with the yellow star, I found myself completely blocked in by corpses. I couldn't sacrifice because there's apparently a "safe zone" around the spawn point in which you can't sacrifice because you might block others who come in... and I can't get out of it because of how things are stacked up!

It appears the griefers have already won. Usually, there are far less destroyers than creators, but they are so much more dedicated, and it's so much easier to destroy than create.

I can type in my wisdom, but when i press the button for

nothing happens.

SonicLover, I'm having the exact same issue!

There would be no risk of stalemate (like what's already happened today) if you could walk through corpses from the side, like in some platform games. Then again, maybe that's part of the point...

We can only hope for a reset. It appears this has happened many times before.

Interesting game. I found myself pondering deeply to see if I could find something profound to leave behind for others to read.

There seems to be several versions of this game. In my one there were mostly (or only) attempts to reach the star. I duly sacrificed in a helpful position. :-)

I think it's reset daily. Fact of the matter is, it takes dozens to reach the goal but only two to shut it out permanently. Maybe if we could jump at least two corpses' height I'd feel a little better about it.

Mark me down as mystified, but not entertained. This game taught me that some people on the internet like to ruin games for other people. I know, it blew my mind, too.

I guess what's so annoying about this game is that "griefers suck" seems to be the only message so far. Granted, I didn't play very much, because I couldn't. Griefers do suck, after all. Are there any controls put in place that would prevent a single person from ruining everyone's experience? Or am I missing the point, and the experience is meant to be having your experience ruined by someone else?

Also, did you know that baking soda and vinegar are great cleaning agents? It was explained to me v e r y s l o w l y at least three times. Talk faster, stupid tutorial martyr giant!

I had the same problem as everyone. I wonder if the block that has been created is always intentional. Perhaps the person leaving the second level corpse thought they were adding to the height of the tower and did not realize that you have to carefully be off center. Often stacking to reach a height requires careful stacking so that edges match. In this game it is the opposite, but you would have to be aware of that.

Ok, i watched the video now and see that you can move up a block tower that is evenly stacked. So the problem must be that it has simply started too close to the left edge. Not that anyone has intentionally stopped the building

One thing leaves me curious: can you actually read the messages that others leave behind? If so, I haven't yet found a way...

Darn it! Adjusting your computer date doesn't make the game refresh...

Also, I have the same question as lost260; how do we read the wisdom of those that have gone before us?

@lost260: I think there's a Twitter channel where it all gets sent to. The URL is revealed after a successful sacrifice. I saw a YouTube video of it.

Hm. I'm having pretty much all the abovedescribed problems.

• The only message I see is the one about baking soda and vinegar.
  

• Reading that message takes up over half a session from game start to blank wall.
  

• The actual game level starts with a blank wall of two giants that I don't see how to climb.
  

• I can't sacrifice myself in front of that wall.
  

I guess I should come back tomorrow?

This doesn't work. At all. The griefer problem should be predictable to anyone who's spent 10 minutes on the intertubes. And when I DO try to "sacrifice," nothing happens.
Not only that, but it takes forever to start over and watch the same idiotic "wisdom" typed out again in the tutorial.
This game isn't worthy to wipe the rear ends of the games that normally appear on JiG.
Sorry if I sound like a hater, but when it comes to this one, I am.

Also, why does it take so friggin' long to load the graphics/data for a game that is about stacking identical rectangular blocks!?

Oh, the Twitter channel? It's wethegiants.

It would be nice if the game could detect when it is impossible to lay another block and clear when that happens.

I think it's a great game idea, 10/10 points for concept, but in execution, greifers make it unplayable. I got boxed in like most everyone else and couldn't add to the pile. There should be some measures in place to limit the amount of damage a greifer can do. Such a shame, such a shame, it looked like it could have been really cool.

Hm. I like jingidy's idea, in principle, though I fear that might lead to (less damaging?) griefers who live to clear the board.

What a terribly flawed game. Did the game designers not have the foresight, interest or skill to work around such obvious problems? It certainly did not take long for players to discover the creation of dead-ends. I wonder if it was ever actually tested.

Conceptually, it was a poor choice. There is no real pay off for individual players who are looking for any amount of entertainment value. It is more like an awful sociological experiment in frustration.

yeah, interesting experiment that only works in demonstrating that people can be creative in screwing things up.

I can't even fully read the instructions on the final screen, because of the sacrificed giants stacked up behind the text. :/

So, yeah, interesting concept, very poor execution.

The developer of the game put his trust in people, and the Griefers have failed him. Goes to show, you put your trust in the internet, some person with a brain the size of a coin will come along and abuse that trust.

..What now?!

I would love to explore this game more and leave a message for others to read, if the game would let me.
I too was faced with a dead-end in about the 3rd or 4th screen. Typed a message and hit ESC but nothing happened. Also, couldn't read the instructions because of those who had previously sacrificed themselves and created the dead-end.
Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

I'm looking over the WeTheGiants twitters. It's interesting seeing the variety of epitaphs. Some are thought-provoking ("The wings dont make you fly, and the crown dont make you king"), some are ridiculously uninspired ("DEAD"), and some are a bit meta ("Remember the shift key!").

As an experiment, this is very interesting, but as a game it leaves a lot to desire. Right now, the last screen has been built in a way that it's impossible to sacrifice, for some strange reason (as has been said before). Talk about frustrating.

Pretty interesting game, I wish sacrifice was working. But this could really be something amazing.

I think they should make it so if you hold down a certain key you can walk straight through sacrificed giants, and when you let go of that key you will be able to walk on the giants again.

Everyone, let's stop playing this terrible game. I went through the short tutorial portion and got ready for a pretty cool experience. The first level, THE VERY FIRST LEVEL, is completely blocked off. Nobody can do anything. You can't proceed more than three steps, and you can't

That's not an insult, that's objective fact. You cannot play this game. The experience is destroyed. The developer does not even have a website where we can communicate with him in the hopes of a solution. Until we can expect the support we are due, let's deny the game every ounce of traffic we can.

Game needs to be updated. Current game unplayable.

Really novel concept for a game...unfortunate that it is impossible for anyone to complete now that the path is blocked. Perhaps the safe area should be dynamic, and change depending on whether sacrifices have made it impossible to complete.

Experienced the same problems here.

I love experiments! They're all so fascinating to me.. this one needs some improvements, but it's a good idea. I would suggest making the power to help equivalent to the power of get in the way. But I can't really say.. never got the chance of sacrificing myself, anyway.

I think the part where the reviewer says, "You should play it before reading the analysis..." is rather frustrating in retrospect, since it prompts the reader to play what turns out to be an essentially unplayable game before reading the review or perhaps looking at any of the comments. :(

Ah, well. It was worth a shot. Since I've already typed it out, here was the gleaming gem of wisdom I was going to leave.

Hardly Socrates, but damned useful.

JIGuest and others. The first level is not blocked off.

feverblue, that is indeed fantastic wisdom. thanks!

I thought that the game didn't have any problems. It's a big lesson on teamwork and what we can accomplish when working together. I interpreted it as a reflection on the world too - if no one stands in the way, we can reach the stars.

IMO, the complainers are no better than the griefers when it comes to working together.

Great idea, unfortunate execution.

The simple solution would be to make it possible to walk through giants left to right, and jump up through them onto their heads. Now it's impossible to stalemate. It wouldn't harm the concept of the game in one bit.

The tutorial level would have to be tweaked to prevent the player from progressing before (s)he learns to sacrifice. The tutorial text needs to go faster anyway, so that can be done at the same time.

Great concept, but it's a shame that it's broken the day it is reviewed.

-SirNiko

Found a website for the designer:
http://www.thegiftedintrovert.com/blg.php

The funny thing about experiments is that sometimes you come up with unexpected results. Whatever the intended message about sacrifice, the one delivered ends up being "It only takes one D-bag to ruin the sacrifices of dozens of others."

Another recent game had the exact same music - does anyone remember which one? It's nagging at me. Thanks.

I have discovered a way through the "impassible wall". (at least it worked for me)

"What a terribly flawed game. Did the game designers not have the foresight, interest or skill to work around such obvious problems?"

Game creators in general tend to take a very rosy colored, bright-eyed view of video game communities and those who take part in them. Most MMOs, for instance, are ill-equipped to handle griefers (even established ones), multiplayer shooters rarely account for campers (again, even the big-budget productions run into massive, supposedly unforeseen problems, all because of their optimism), and only a sorry few have the capacity to parry the efforts of those trying to exploit the game, whether for their own gain or simply to the detriment of others.

By all accounts, were a designer to approach anything involving online multiplayer or a persistent world with suspicion and low expectations, we'd all be much better off.

You see, designers are not willing to believe that most people who play their game aren't going to be emotionally invested enough to care whether their actions are "unethical" within the game space. And while its nice to know they refuse to lose faith in humanity...their lack of cynicism is exceedingly annoying for the rest of us. See: this game.

The author has another game. It is single-player and therefore immune to griefers.

I don't find it discernibly more impressive.

I think all of you are missing the point. The game may be about helping others by sacrifice, but it's also about how people can stop that help by being idiots.

Heck, it's experimental gameplay, guys. Cool off a bit. It can also be seen as art, which means that different interpretations can be seen. Cope with it.

People that are having trouble performing the third ritual should try again another day.

I managed to get one in today. And it does seem to reset daily. There's probably a cap on how many sessions can log in a day or some other limitation that prevents committal of a session past a certain point.

And while griefers may be attracted to popular games, I don't think this game will have a high occurrence of griefing past inception.

The cartoon depiction of stars usually has 5 branches, not 6.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_badge

This game is pure genius. Now you might want to try and take the rage you feel at people who screw up everyone's best efforts to the political arena, intead of bemoaning that you didn't get to win this game.

Very philosophic.

Btw: I don't think the author's intention is to provide us with entertainment and fun.

@Anon: it might have been the "Defuse" puzzle game from a few days ago.

I'm surprised people consider the game flawed or a "failure". In order to term it a "failure" we would first have to understand what it was trying and failing to achieve.

Does it aim to give every player a satisfying experience? I think not. In fact, the game fundamentally opposes any reward schedule. It is not guaranteed that your sacrifice will bring you any happiness at all, or bring anyone else any success. The game allows us to experience pointless sacrifice.

But it is clear that sometimes we do reach the yellow star together! It may be more difficult that the designer expected, but that just reflects the world we live in. How glorious and satisfying when we *do* reach the yellow star! How much better when it is achieved despite opposition!

I am not sure this game *has* a specific aim. it has set up an experiment (it is an experimental game in the truest sense of the word) and we are given the opportunity to participate in its process and observe its results. Its aim is to see what happens. It hasn't failed in that. it might be justifiable to say that you don't find the results interesting, but I think that if people didn't go in with false expectations, and with a more open heart, they might find it more interesting. And satisfying.

I'm so tired of people taking stupid, inane ideas and trying to give them meaning. This "game" was really just a waste of time.

there's another game that has the exact same music. Does anyone remember?

Good stuff!! its too bad for all the griefer's out there...but I suppose they could have just been experimenting rather then intentionally blocking.

Looks like the builders won this time. I'll be sure and sacrifice myself again tomorrow.

By the way, the music in this game is the same as in the just-off-the-first-page Defuse: A.R.G.

This is an interesting game, but the only reason to come back and try playing again is to see what happens when you reach the star which, as far as I can tell, can only be attempted once per day and is extremely difficult.

Loved it. Great game. What, everyone here is surprised that there are d-bags on the internet? It's always been the case the one loser can negate the contributions of many, it doesn't stop us from trying.

Working again!

Any one else getting an eye when they play and sacrifice themselves and try playing again?

Much like "Six and a Half" by the same guy, this game isn't a game, it's something presented as a game that instead gives a message to the user. I really liked it.

@hengehog
that's what happens, you only get to kill yourself once per day (very similar to real life :P)
and so if you try and play it again you can see whats been built so far

I think a lot of this headache could be avoided if you also had an option when you sacrifice yourself: either leave your block behind, or remove a block that's already there.

I wish that more Flash developers would be aware that the shift key is handled poorly by the Flash plugin on Linux. At least for me, it tends to stick, so that subsequent presses are ignored. I can usually get it to respond again by hammering both my shift keys a bunch, but it's really annoying.

Oh well. The game didn't really work for me anyway. I typed a message and tried to sacrifice myself, but the box just disappeared and when I went back to the other guy, he told me that there was an IO error.

Host took my domain down for some reason. They tend to do this every now and then without informing me. Sorry...

The links don't seem to work, it says the domain is gone?

[Edit: Note the game author's comment just above yours. -Jay]

The concept of this game is very interesting, but there are problems in the act of sacrificing. I simply couldn't sacrifice myself (I even reloaded and it still didn't work). I got to the end, wrote my message, clicked the button and then...nothing happened. The game's message becomes pointless if you don't get to participate. I don't know if it's perhaps my browser (Firefox) or something built into the game itself, but it is very frustrating!

[Edit: I believe the domain went down while you were playing. -Jay]

Possibly too much traffic? :)

To play multiple times just right click and choose the option to not let the site save any local data. Although I wouldn't bother; ironing your own underwear is more though-provoking and satisfying than this self-proclaimed 'experiment'.

Looks like the greifers struck again. Also, how do I get the stupid eye to stop blinking? It has issues with opening...

My advice:

I think that this game is flawed, but then, all games are. This game is not designed to be an action-packed, fast-paced platformer with achievements and speed trials. It is a philosophical exercise, I suppose. IMHO, the creator didn't WANT this game to be easily won. It was designed to see how considerate, or inconsiderate, gamers are. It was to see how willingly the player would sacrifice themselves, knowing that they would not achiever their goal, but someone else would reach it before them. The sacrifice is purely to see how players will react to having to help another person to beat them to it. Not only that, it was made to find the advice of the players who had gone before.
Personally, I like this game and all it represents, but other, less patient players will simply swear in the advice box and create a wall (clearly this has already happened).
My only concern is that it will take weeks for just the first few levels to be completed, and that gamers will have grown tired and left by that point. I will certainly be back to see how progress is going, in the hope that my advice is read and my sacrifice used to reach the unreachable stars.

interesting... a non-multiplayer but a multi-player too...EPIC
to sacrifce yourself so another may proceed...
COOL!

A fun idea. I've been sitting here just watching the board I contributed to just to see if we make it.

A possible solution to the griefer problem: have the game instantly delete any block hanging over the left edge of another block. It wouldn't completely solve it, but it'd go a long way.

This of course assumes that the author wants the griefer problem solved and it wasn't an anticipated part of the game. Never can tell with these experimental games =)

when i got to the star room i fell through a gap of corpses and kept falling with no way to stop!!!

@Lavos: How do I get the game to do that?

@Samara: You can't; I was just proposing a possible change to the game that would stop most of the griefers.

Griefers don't ruin the game. They're just playing a different game.

Actually, never mind. My previous posts assumed that there was no reason a well-meaning player would want to place their block over the left edge of another, but looking at the board now, I could see a few places where it would actually help.

Well hey!!! It just restarted!!

It's blocked again! D:

Too many people make excuses in defence of this game. The core game play mechanic of this game is the ability to sacrifice yourself and leave a message. When the game cannot fulfill its primary function it becomes a failure.

It is arguable whether or not the game has any significant philosophical message, but the idea of whether or not it succeeded as a fun game for most people is not.

People are also blaming griefers when any player could have made a dead-end with no malicious intent whatsoever.

Hmm... seems it's possible for a single player to create multiple giants in the same board. =o
(not sure if it's worth listening to the painfully slow tutorial giant over and over, though)

Also, I'm curious how, exactly, the game updates. When someone sacrifices him/herself, does the game just overwrite the current state, does it add a giant to the current state or are users queued? (I'm doubtful on that third count.) I'm curious because of the possibility of the board being thrown back a few seconds/minutes/hours into the past because of one player who takes forever deciding where to sacrifice.

I should have made myself a wall, hehehe, but I helped... Does it restart after we're finished? Seemed short and slow to win, good idea.

I sacrificed myself for the greater good but then remembered I coulda used to see if we were getting close. Anyone know how long the game actually takes to reset?

I love that all the last messages end up on Twitter. Don't forget to check it out.

http://twitter.com/wethegiants/wethegiants

lol "yay! staircase!"

I find it annoying that it takes about 15 people to undo the stupid rudeness caused by a single person.
Yet, its a profound meaning.

PS:
You can play more than once by setting your flash storage limits for the game to "0."

My Advice, since I couldnt leave it.

A single spore has such grim power
That you may die within the hour.
Is dilution simple? But of course!
Just one small dose of root of horse.

Violet B.

It'd be really cool if the game told you on the first screen "Hey, it's full. You won't be able to do anything in the last stage," rather than make me tread through the same screens OVER and OVER and OVER again the first time I played, thinking I was doing something wrong, and then every other following day, trying to actually play the game. Even if the game said something AT the last stage so I wouldn't click the sacrifice button repeatedly, thinking I did something wrong, I could cut it some slack. For now, it's a novel idea with abysmal implementation. And ideas aren't art. The articulation of those ideas are.

How whimsical. Nice music. ^^'

I dont know if I would call a game the focuses on sacrifice whimsical...

interesting though, and really deep. cool experiment

Loved the game, it's pretty fun to watch how everything turns out too. I found a similar problem with people screwing up everything in Minecraft, just done by adding instead of removing. I'm not really sure why people would bother to do something just to irritate others, but I guess it can't be helped sometimes.

Before one can look forward towards the future, one must look back to the past to see where he's been, and at the present to see where he is

:o My advice.
And I believe the griefers were an intentional part of the core gameplay, because anyone who has seen the internets, EVER, knows that there are alotta jerks out there who use anonimity to plague others. I think it's a social experiment, like The Joker's in The Dark Knight.

Jeez, why is everyone being so hateful? I've honestly never seen this kind of hostility at JIG before. I mean, everyone's entitled to voice their opinion and whatnot, but you'd think we were on a political blog with this kind of venom.

I loved this game. Did anyone think that the fact that it's impossible to reach the star is not only part of the game, but the POINT of the game?

I'm sorry if anyone feels that their time was wasted, but I know that I was treated to a neat little experience with this game. No flashing "You Win!" screen necessary. :)

It's ok, if only the sacrifice button worked. :(

I really loved the idea of this game, though I have to say this experiment was a bit of a fail due to experimental design, not due to "negative" finding.

See, if it takes A LOT more than 2 people to ruin it for everyone, or if players can negate what griefers do, and we still manage to never get to the star due to destructive people, then that'd still be an interesting finding. Depressing, but interesting, therefore experiment is ok.

But as it stands now, we only have to endure 3 completely non-challenging pages to sacrifice, so it does not cost much for the griefers to come ruin the game. Importantly, it really only takes 2 people to ruin the game, so it's not like it demonstrates that the majority of the people likes to ruin games or anything. Neither can you say majority of people don't. For all we know, more griefers may have visited afterwards to find they can't possibly do any more damage. So in the end, other than that "there are griefers on the internet", which we already know, it's hard to say much else. Guess you can give rough estimate by how long it takes for someone to block entrance... but it may simply reflect other griefers not as extreme, or didn't think of it, or the people blocking entrance actually just didn't know what they were doing.

Then again, guess that's part of experimenting. Try something, see what doesn't work and think of ways to fix it, see people's response to see if it's worth fixing...

The only way I can think of at the moment to resolve this is to allow users to negate what other users did. For example, when you sacrifice, you can choose to sacrifice by being a building block, or sacrifice by removing yourself and another "dead Giant" from the board. This allows griefers to destroy builders... but it goes both ways as builders can now undo what griefers did, thereby giving a more fair representation of griefers to helper ratio. BUT, this method may remind people of sensitive issues the world has been dealing with lately, such as suicide bombing and respect for self-sacrificing Giants... so not sure if anyone really want to make (or play) such a game.

Alternatively, it can be more troublesome to perform sacrifice? Thereby testing how far out of their way people would go to annoy/help people? But if we are here playing games instead of doing work, I'm assuming most people wouldn't mind a little challenge; that would just be the "platform" part of the gameplay. And then whether you choose to help or annoy wouldn't really matter anymore since you already enjoyed the process of getting here as a game... So don't know, don't think this will really work. It might even turn some people off to know you go through so much and in the end you may not get the star, or even know if anyone will get the star that day... at worst, you might not even get to put down your piece. That'd probably actually turn quite a few people away, judging from these comments =/

I've just had the eye blinking away at me for two days now. I was hoping to have another go, but does it not let you if you've already made a sacrifice?

I may have a solution.

Believe it or not, I actually made it to the star!!!!!!!!!!

And also, unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture, but seriously, I really made it!!!

Thanx to everyone else who sacrificed themselves for me: they left me an incredibly easy path.

I just made it to the star. I am happy. Thank you all!

Today...this time...we made it!

Walkthrough
First screen:

Second screen:

Third screen:

After:

I just realized that I sacrificed in completely the wrong place... crap!

Griefers win again. Another 5 minutes of my life wasted.

This is truly a work of art. Love it!

Awesome. This time around the sacrifice button worked. I couldn't get to the star due to a "misplaced" sacrifice that was blocking the stairs. I sacrificed myself on a proper place, because that's how good I am.

I admit it. I am a so-called 'griefer.' I'm not trying to prevent you from winning. I'm not trying to keep you from your goal. I am simply trying to show you that your goal is so aloft, so unattainable, that it's better for you to remain grounded in the real.

The star isn't something magical. It doesn't bring you back. Your sacrifice is permanent. The illusion that your sacrifice means something to someone other than yourself is damaging us as a whole, not helping us, since it leads others to sacrifice themselves. Those are fields of bodies, countless souls wasted for the accomplishment of nothing. I merely want to break that cycle, not encourage more death.

Sometimes it takes someone like me to sacrifice himself to snap you back to reality. I hope it wasn't in vain.

What makes them fields of bodies? Only those who would deny our hopes and dreams.

Life isn't worth the living until you have something worth dying for. It is beautiful when so many people come together for the same goal and find that goal worth giving their lives. Who are you to decide that goal is worthless? What other reality is there to attain?

A griefer's death is the most meaningless of them all, for if a griefer truly believes the Star worthless, what substitute does a griefer offer?

I pressed shift to look at the map, it was a perfect path to the star, except for 2 people who put their blocks at the very beginning so no one could sacrifice or make it to the star, this is so frustrating! Is there any way to climb vertical blocks?

the path to the star is blocked...apparently again...

Ugh, I had no idea what they meant by the sacrifice thing and now I can't play it again. ;_;

Each time I try to play I just get the "eye" screen and see the progress of everybody else. What do I have to do to get another chance to play (Ayyy this suicidal desire is too much for me, gotta sacrifice myself, I'm a giver).

But seriously, is it a bug in the game that I can't replay again or does everybody have the same problem?

I think we have to wait for the part we sacrificed in to have someone get to the yellow star... I'm just guessing though.

OMG! i actually finally made a sacrafice! AND MADE IT TO THE STAR! YESH!:D

I encountered a bug in this game and used it to build an inverted pyramid in the sky: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/sergiocornaga/wethegiantspyramid2.png

Now everyone should be able to reach the star.

I came so close...

why would so many people commit suicide for the star? (and for the words you made it!)It is a goal but, why die to get eventually tramled on and walked over? It is a beautiful game, very inspiering but why should you have some bozo build you up to where you know you can do it, just to be let down? you have a dream you can fly and everybody says "you can do it!" and then you fall on your face. so THANKS bozo.

@samara
Me too!%^&$^*%^*%*%*^!!!I didn't want to contribute to the problem!

I think that the eye image has to do with the fact that, once you sacrifice, there really is no coming back, and you can only sacrifice yourself once, you don't get another life

Chris D: At least you have a good reason (Some believe we have to sacrifice to help others reach the goal. You believe that you have to sacrifice yourself to show that not all goals are worth it, that sometimes it is better just to give up on them and find something more reasonable)

Who I hate are the jerks that do it for the lulz >.>