Angeló Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Ok , so first let's establish some facts : I know nothing about maths , computers or programming ... but I'm fascinated with movies like Matrix and Tron .. So we all know that Neopets.com has "Random Events" or "RE's" which pop out every now and then : faerie quests , granting you items or random avatars , taking money from you , making your pets sick , or are just plain annoying "monocerous" "earthquake" "bad dream" "burning red eyes" etc Lots of players notice that when you first start playing Neopets , the RE's , especially the good ones , seem to fall like rain , for example the Lab Map RE's , Dr. Sloth potions , and even the Fountain Faerie is more likely to pay you a visit when your account shield is 1 month than when it's 9 years .. after that , RE's seem to dwindle gradually into once in a blue moon ... and when they happen , they're usually useless *red scorchio says hi* !!! , or plain evil (Boochi hit me twice last month alone) ... but this is not our topic ... what I really want is for someone to explain to me how does that system work ?? I mean , the whole RE thing .. is it integrated into the whole site algorithm , or into our individual profiles so that TNT control what RE's I get ?? for example I'm now on the News page , and I get a RE telling me I found 100 np .. did a TNT member actually put that for me earlier to find or does the "matrix" automatically generate it ?? can TNT control the amount or frequencies of my RE's ?? increasing it and lowering it ? and if they do it - does it only affect me or the whole site ?? why do certain players seem to have all the luck in the world and others can't find a scrap of metal in Moltara when they need it ?? what about the new Spring baskets ? do TNT send that RE to certain more privileged players ??? because it's only the richest players who are appearing to get it .. or maybe it's because they play 24/7 and refresh like mad to RS and such ??? I've been thinking about this for a long long time and I never got an answer .. perhaps someone with programming knowledge can enlighten me , thank you ever so much :) On another hand , this is my 400th post !! YES .. I'm a SUPER MEMBER :graduated: I will be changing my name from "solid" to "Angeló" .. after I changed my avvie and siggy earlier today :king: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viridian Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 TNT once said in an editorial (don't remember which one, sorry) that random events do not change as your account gets older... I always felt that younger accounts get more RE's too, but I'll take their word on it. I personally only had a lab map event twice or so, and once a nerkmid. Obviously the number of negative REs is a lot higher than the number of positive REs to keep the economy balanced, so that's why you might notice more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anime Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Please note that this is purely theory, but it makes the most sense to my (comp sci major) mind, so here goes: The way I see it, whenever a request is made to Neo's server for the current content of an RE-elegible page, something on the server runs that determines if an RE is included or not, and then decides the RE itself based on various things like if you're on a FQ (so they're out if you are) and the rarity of the RE itself. Pretty simple, but that's a good thing. That, of course, could be completely and utterly wrong. I do know this for sure, though: TNT does not control what REs you get. Your standing with the site has no effect on what REs you get. Your account age has no effect on what REs you get (TNT has said that much outright in the Editorial). They are just that- random. You are just as likely to get an FFQ or a Draik Trans when you load your inventory as any and everyone else on the site. As for why newbies seem to get more REs? Simple- they load a LOT more pages than a veteran player does. I, for example, do all my dailies via my toolbar, so I'm not loading the explore page a dozen times per day. I feel no need to go inspect everything as I've seen it all, while a newbie would want to check out every store, read the descriptions on a lot of the games, ect. It's also likely that a newbie is going around getting clickable avs and trying to refresh for ones like the Haiku av, while a veteran player obviously has those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhaal_ Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 While TNT hasn't released how this stuff is calculated(at least not to my knowledge), the general idea isn't that big of a mystery: When you open a page where it's possible to get a random event, the page does just does a quick randomize calculation to see if you're getting a RE, and another one checking what RE you'll get, if any. Ofcourse, it might also include other data into the equation, like how long it's been since you last got a RE(or a certain type of RE), what the date and/or time is, or even your account info, like f.ex. how many avatars you've collected. They could even see if you'd scored at least x points in a certain game to determine whether or not you could get a certain RE, or do some bizarre calculation like checking if your current IP address' last two numbers equals the middle two numbers of the price of the item that is equal to the current minute counter in Neopian time. Most of the REs are probably just a randomize check, though. But I bet a couple of the REs have some really, really weird equations. Because I'd definetly do that, if I'd been a programmer there. :P Anyway, the possibilities are pretty much endless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xepha Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 If you actually want to learn about math... you can look on wikipedia ;P This term, I've been learning about computation... so I did use a random() function. Usually, you need to provide a range everytime you call such a function. For instance, it would pull a number between 0 and 100 and use it as its value. What I imagine is that certain random event are more or less likely to happen than others. It would be similar to the rarity index of item. It's easy to think of complicate way to generate the formula. For example, it could be tied to the neopets clock... But honestly, I have no clear idea of what their code looks like XD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somekaitlin Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Has anyone ever noticed REs happening to several users at once? This might just be a theory (and I'm no computer programmer), but last night I got a nerkmid as a RE, and when I went onto the Trading Post for my usual rounds immediately after putting it into my safety deposit box, I saw several nerkmids on the recent trades page (okay, like 2 from distinct users, but that's more than normal) for much lower than the normal price, which made me think that they might have gotten it for cheaper than the normal price (i.e. free) and were trying for a quick sell. Could it be that they got the same RE I did around the same time? I know, I know, correlation doesn't imply causation, but it was interesting at least... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice ☮ Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Hmmm... I had never really wondered about the "randomness" of REs before. I just attributed their "randomness" to the magic of the internet. But reading all of these answers raised even more questions (since I don't have any idea what all this computer jargon means anyway). I think that my poor brain can't handle thinking about this sort of thing. I'm going to go back to believing in "the magic of the internet" which makes the randomness of REs possible :P. (On a somewhat related note, "the magic of the internet" is also responsible for wi-fi, web-searches like Google, and the wonders of instant messaging programs xD). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angeló Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 Has anyone ever noticed REs happening to several users at once? YES , I did notice that ... one time I got a pppb (i think it was snow) and on the trading boards several people were like OMG i just got a pppb ... some had the more expensive ones, though ... and Xepha, I took one look at that Wikipedia article and got a splitting headache , good grief woman , how do you do that stuff o_O Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 This so-called "randomness" drives me crazy and I think there must be some kind of rhyme or reason to it, simply because TNT loves to keep the neo-economy in check. I finally hit 10 mil yesterday after almost 9 years on neo and since I changed my bank account to the highest type, I have had a massive surge in "finding neopoints on the floor" REs. I might get oneRE a day, if that, but i got 4 or 5 in a couple hours yesterday, and 3 or 4 already today, and they've all been in regards to me finding np on the floor. I'm not doing anything differently and don't have any of the Talisman beads that supposedly increase your chances of REs. Not complaining, I'm just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angeló Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 This so-called "randomness" drives me crazy and I think there must be some kind of rhyme or reason to it, simply because TNT loves to keep the neo-economy in check. I finally hit 10 mil yesterday after almost 9 years on neo and since I changed my bank account to the highest type, I have had a massive surge in "finding neopoints on the floor" REs. I might get oneRE a day, if that, but i got 4 or 5 in a couple hours yesterday, and 3 or 4 already today, and they've all been in regards to me finding np on the floor. I'm not doing anything differently and don't have any of the Talisman beads that supposedly increase your chances of REs. Not complaining, I'm just curious. yeah well , you should be thankful for that LOL all I get is the bug brothers and the ghosts taking away my money .. I had the ghosts 4 times yesterday while playing Bilge Dice then got the bug brothers while playing pyarmids , they all took about 1000 np in total from me <_< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 That's what I can't figure out. I almost always get the REs where either nothing happens (****'s stomach grumbles. Maybe they would like ****) or the ones that take my money. I wonder if they're random, or if you track them over time if they'd eventually equal out. So if you usually get a lot of bad ones, you're bound to eventually get a bunch of good ones? Or there really is no reasoning and I'm trying way too hard to make this make sense *brain breaks* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angeló Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 I just found 2 codestones on the floor (Eo and Lu) and got a Light Faerie Quest .... all in less than 30 minutes !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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