Talk:Secret Adventure Mode

Loci
Actually, Loci was only conceived of as an adventure game because it was more appropriate for the control systems on console titles. It had nothing to do with any previous "adventure modes" because I'd never heard of them! (Lisa - Gameware)
 * Hehe, yes . . . I know that's not really how it worked, it's just a continuation of the joke. ;-) GreenReaper
 * D'oh! I didn't get so far as the reply that was cited and the event was before my time. v. funny. :-)

Secret Adventure Mode
This article could use a little work. Its in the Easter Egg selection but how are you meant to access it?


 * Funnily enough, nobody has ever mentioned how to activate the Secret Adventure Mode . . . it's obviously a well-kept secret! --GreenReaper([ talk]) 23:26, 10 Feb 2005 (GMT)


 * So does no one know how to activate it? There are so few references to it on the internet. The only ones I could find are here and on two message boards. The first has a person asking how to activate it with no replies. The other has someone again asking how to activate it. Another member replies 'I personally have found it but it would be terrible to ruin the surprise if anyone gave it away.' So, if no one knows how to activate it, are we to assume this person is lying? -Anon


 * The trick is to read the query post on the article page here, and see how closely it actually ties in with Creatures ;) - Don 18:49, 18 Aug 2005 (UTC)


 * Would it kill people around here to be explicit? Is it real? A hoax? Before I discovered the wiki, I knew nothing of this 'secret adventure mode.' I've been playing Creatures for years, but I never belonged to any online Creatures community. So sue me. Doesn't just playing the game make you part of the community? -Anon.


 * Not automatically, no . . . heck, even some of the people who made it aren't exactly members of the community. Community is based on shared knowledge and interaction - it's being part of and knowing the culture. Certainly, one part of being in the community is knowing the jokes. If you have read this topic, welcome to the CC. :-) -- 17:31, 20 Aug 2005 (UTC)
 * Might I suggest this whole SAM thing be reclassified as an in-joke rather than an easter egg to avoid future confusion? -Anon


 * Umm.. no, because it actually is a large part of the game (read: community) and it is an ingame thing. :P Liam


 * That kind of attitude is frightening. Ok, I was fooled. I admit it. But perhaps my naivity was caused by the shining hope that I'd stumbled across a way of giving that dear old game a new lease of life. But anyway, I thought the wiki was a catalogue of facts. Ok, so this SAM thing is a big community joke. Label it as such. IMO, easter eggs should be easter eggs- something that is IN the game, available to be seen by anyone, whether they're community veterans or not. There's something a bit off about labelling SAM as an easter egg. What's to stop me from writing an article and putting it in easter eggs that claims that if you take all the sound files from Creatures 2, edit them together and play them backwards it gives you the recipe for the Elixir of Youth? It's not true, but it's a joke. -_- -Anon


 * From the about page: "The Creatures Wiki is a cooperative attempt to record information of use to the Creatures Community." -- it does not technically have to be true, just useful information. If you made the article, it'd probably be removed . . . unless it was really funny! The Secret Adventure Mode is here because it's become a legend in the community, and those of us who are members of it think it deserves to live on. It's not explained upfront because it isn't anywhere near as funny if you get told it's a joke beforehand. :-) -- 16:25, 23 Aug 2005 (UTC)


 * Fine, fine. I suppose I'll back down so you can continue to fool and confuse people who didn't happen to be there at the time. -Anon


 * If one were to read David Wood's response carefully, and Steve Grand's notes on the prototype SAM (I've just added a link to them), it's fairly clear what the SAM is, I think. I don't think it's a 'you had to be there' sort of a thing - after all, each of the games were discovered to have the SAM.  Also, people are still discovering new ways to get into the SAM, and its myriad functions.  Sure, you might be annoyed that this in-joke fooled you, but it's still a pretty funny joke, no? ;)  Even when there is no-one to confuse, it's still fairly funny, because... Due to that the Creatures series isn't a 'game'-game - it's different from what people expected and continue to expect of a 'game' - it's like speculation on what a 'traditionally gamey-style' Creatures could be.  In its own way, it's as real as Sphericus.  Please don't be too sore - it's only an eight-year-old joke, after all! - Malkin 11:37, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Reconsider SAM Articles
Ok. I hate to beat a dead horse, but I really think we should again ponder the tone of this and other SAM-related articles. I am posting this in response to our friend the vandal that decided to trash this page recently. Before I say this: Let me strongly reinforce the fact that I disapprove of the way this person handled their aggressions. Vandalism is never an acceptable solution for this type of problem. However, as a person who has never particularly bought into the whole SAM thing, I can see why some people (including myself) might get irritated by the tone of these articles, which say "this is real." I am extremely wary of the attitude that "it's just a joke"; it seems to me it's a way for smug oldbies to sit around and giggle at the cluelessness of newcomers to the community. The joke is, as mentioned above, 8 years old. Don't you think that perhaps it's getting a bit stale? I strongly advocate reconsidering the content of these articles and, just maybe, coming clean about what SAM really is. This dishonesty on a wiki that purports to be a viable source of Creatures-related information is rather disturbing. Yes it's a joke, haha. But let's give up the act, please? ElasticMuffin 23:38, 1 Nov 2005 (UTC)

(OT: I've been trying to keep out of the whole mess on the forums as there is aggression on both sides, from those desperately trying to keep the secret and those frustrated by the time they have wasted trying to access the mode, but at the end of the day keeping up the pretence too forcefuly is just going to cause more harm than good) - Don 00:16, 2 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * I agree. The Wiki really shouldn't join in by describing a joke as fact.


 * I'm a bit iffy on this issue - I like the joke, and I think that if you read the original response (and those that follow) carefully it's fairly obvious that it is tongue-in-cheek - but maybe some have more difficulty getting the tone of the "walkthrough", or take issue with the 'giggling' of the oldbies. Maybe we could move the SAM to the community category, and explain that it is a fictional easter egg under the heading of the "SAM mythology", or somesuch? (with spoiler tags).  I do think that it has some historical importance or significance, like Sphericus, and I don't think it should all be forgotten.  However, given that as the articles stand, they will always be subject to revert wars...  Maybe it's time.  I don't know.  - Malkin 01:17, 2 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * By the time I found this page, if I were just a casual browser, I'd already be irritated. But that's just me. ;)  I agree that it is an important part of community lore, and that it should not be forgotten.  I just think that it's about time we stopped pretending it's real.  Revert wars are only inevitable if we don't work out a careful, rational way to be objective about this rather than secretive.  I myself am not yet certain how to fix this without causing undesired opposition.  Ideally, I think it should be described as an amusing piece of community humor/history, rather than an "easter egg". ElasticMuffin 02:34, 2 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * Ok, here's my proposal. I suggest that a new 'Humor' ('humour?') category (as a subcat of Category:Community) be created, and all SAM articles be inserted into it (there are other articles that would fit in such a category, incidentally, such as Quotes and skull-shaped basket).  Then a small "spoiler"/explanation would be added to them giving the real truth of things (appropriately labelled with a spoiler warning, of course).  What say you? ElasticMuffin 04:01, 2 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * Sounds aright - only call it 'jokes' instead, so that it's spelling-neutral. - Malkin 07:51, 2 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * A suggestion to use Wikipedia-style notice at the top: "This article is about a nonexistent mode used as a joke. Fictional information will be treated as fact below."  Or if there is great desire to be tricky, this could be at the bottom.


 * Can I suggest a new template? Something that won't give the page away as a joke unless you actually go to a certain page which will tell you all pages that are under that template are jokes and are not, in actual fact, fact. Because I LOVE the S.A.M. mode, it rocks my socks! - Liam
 * What would such a template say? (sorry, I missed this message earlier) ElasticMuffin 02:10, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * How about something like a page in Community that links to these? And, if you do this, put Emu under it as well. Something like this happened previously on A2k.--(Nish)


 * I'd say a Humour category would be perfect - Don 10:22, 2 Nov 2005 (UTC)
 * Eh... Let's go with the British spelling. It's the one I generally use anyway, despite being an American.  :)  It sounds better than "Jokes", and anyway Quotes really isn't jokes so much as just funny.  :) ElasticMuffin 01:13, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * That would make it clear for new Wiki visitors. I do think that there are enough other websites and forums out there claiming SAM is real, so when someone finally, in desperation, visits the Wiki for a proper walkthrough on how to access the mode then that should be the point at which they find out the real facts - Don 14:02, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

I have posted a prototype new article in my user namespace. Please feel free to edit it or make comments about it on its own talk page. Thank you. :) ElasticMuffin 16:49, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

I'm not disagreeing that the ideas of the SAM has always been excellent and the original joke was funny to read, but it is cauing conflict now. The main problem we've been having recently (where people have been intentionally misleading others into wasting days looking for the mode) is occurring mostly on the forums, which is not so much Wiki-related, but it shouldn't be encouraged here. The Creatures Wiki article has a link to where you would discover the original joke so perhaps (whilst this discussion is going on) just making it the tiniest bit clearer that visitors should read the original posts would avoid the Wiki facing too much blame - Don 20:06, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Sigh. I guess I'm probably destined to lose this battle. :) I surrender.  There's still too much support for keeping it a secret, I guess.  I disapprove of this, but one person can't change the thinking of the community in general.  Still no chance of putting it in the Humour category, I suppose? ElasticMuffin 20:13, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * Oh no, I still agree with you. I certainly don't think we should mislead anyone. I just wanted to make a minor change to the article in the mean time to reduce the hostility the Wiki might incur. So, do we need to vote on putting Secret Adventure Mode in Humour or something? - Don 20:30, 3 Nov 2005 (UTC)

I think its fine how it is. I believed it for about five minutes before i saw an entry caled "communist Grendel". Its really funny i think and if you believe in communist gredels then you deserve to look for days and find nothing - 204.193.6.90


 * The SAM needs to be identified as a hoax if only in a footnote. What if some poor noob to the CC sees this and spends weeks trying to figure it out? - Davll


 * Do we have an endspoiler template? Doesn't seem like it, at present...  Cos maybe we could go

David Wood's answer to the SAM can be found here - reading ALL of the thread is highly recommended to complete the SAM! and continue with the history of the SAM - would that be enough to tip people off that it's a joke? Especially the lols from the other agcers... What does everyone think? - Malkin 10:26, 28 Nov 2005 (UTC)


 * The current text on that page seems fine. If you wanted to know what SAM was you would read the post to the end, as it says, and find out the joke.

Im sorry, Okay? I jumped to conclusions. It was unfair that people (like... Addman!) kept playing with it like hte big joke that it was. I really should have looked harder before I got mad -Drlupinmario