How to Play TriadCity

The TriadCity Players' Guide

How To File the Perfect Bug Report

We're extremely grateful for your diligence in using the Bug command to let us know when things aren't right. "Not right" can mean anything from commands which fail to execute properly to typos in Room descriptions. We're so grateful that we'll spiff you for it: verified bug reports are rewarded with game bucks: the more severe the issue, the larger the reward.

In an environment as complex as TriadCity it can often take considerable effort for us to track down the origin of the problems you report. The more specific you can be, the more helpful for us. Here are some do's, and a few don'ts, which are sincerely appreciated:

Please be in the Room where the problem occurs when using the Bug command. Your location is automatically added to the report. We need that to know where to begin.
Please be as specific as possible. "There's a typo in the room description" forces us to search through potentially dozens of possibilities including studying code that generates or mediates the description that's ultimately shown to you. This blog entry has context. "Typo looking east: 'milions' should be 'millions'" gets us to the point quickly.
Terser is gooder. If you can convey the specifics of the problem without unnecessary color you'll save us processing cycles. We're genuinely grateful.
Please be thoughtful about how many Bugs to file. In a maze Zone where the Room descriptions are identical, it's ok to write, "Typo in the Room descriptions here: 'milions' should be 'millions'. But if you're in say a forest where the trees are differentiated, "Typo in several of the trees here: 'leeves' should be 'leaves'" forces us to hunt. It's better in this circumstance if you can move to each Room where 'leeves' occurs and Bug the individual instances.
Sarcasm is a pure art form but in this context it's quite draining for the person parsing the reports. We're grateful if you can be both terse and neutral in tone.
This also applies to cutesy. If you find yourself wanting to end your report with a smiley face, you should probably reconsider making the report at all.
Please focus each report on exactly one issue. If you're tempted to say, "Something unexpected happened, then a different unexpected thing happened," please make those two individual reports.
Please don't be pedantic. If a table is labeled "Yummy dishes of kung pao shrimp" and you find a pair of boots there, thanks for keeping in mind that players can put anything they like nearly anywhere they'd like it to be. If your sense of tidiness is offended, you're welcome to rearrange things. But please don't Bug them.
Please don't spam. If you've posted a bug and it's unresolved, please don't post it again. Also, we're grateful if you'll check the list of open bugs before posting, in case someone else beat you to it. This saves us a lot of cycles and we're grateful for your considerateness.
Thank you for not complaining. "I wish the trains were faster" isn't actionable on our end. You're more than welcome to post in the Suggestions forum!
Please don't ask us to figure out your browser glitches, or issues with your operating system. You're on your own there.
Lastly, thank you so much for not emailing administrators. If you need more space to describe an issue, or if you feel it'll be helpful to include screen grabs, please write to support@smartmonsters.com.

We realize you'll sometimes be unsure whether something is a bug or a feature. That's inevitable in an environment as complex as TriadCity. If you're not certain, we suggest asking around before filing a report. We truly are extremely grateful for high-quality bug reports — we appreciate you working together with us to keep their quality high!

Thank you! We greatly appreciate your diligence!

Players' Guide TOC

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