AKA Eat Poop You Cat

March 15, 2009 3:05 PM

Broken Picture Telephone..."meetup"! (brought over from the blue) [Note: now with wiki action! -c]

On Friday, op posted a link to this game, and I'm pretty sure it has consumed a lot of MeFites' weekends with its crack-like addictiveness.

You can create private games, and even though we still haven't figured out exactly how the invite system works yet, it's one of those things that probably works better with a lot more people.

Here is everyone who is playing so far (separated by commas, no spaces, when you start a private game): schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,Rhaomi,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,
muncadunc,Secretlife,MarisaS,Xezlec,psho,liza,ob,twirlypen,missdanie,sham,fuljenny,ladycrappo,defenestration,
phunniemee,localhuman,riane,kimothy,msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Lotto

Anyway, if you missed the post Friday and want in on the hot, MeFi action, now is your chance.

posted by phunniemee to MetaFilter gatherings at 3:05 PM (872 comments total)

I'm in as Ampersand.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 3:24 PM on March 15

oops, and by op I mean ob
posted by phunniemee at 3:32 PM on March 15

Joined as notquitemaryann.
posted by notquitemaryann at 3:32 PM on March 15

I really need to clean the gunk out of my mouse.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 3:35 PM on March 15

Sconbie and I both use sconbie
posted by bunglin jones at 3:38 PM on March 15

I'm in as lysistrata.
posted by lysistrata at 3:55 PM on March 15

Krrrlson
posted by Krrrlson at 3:58 PM on March 15

Oh hell yes. I saw people worrying about difficulties with the site on Friday and figured I should come back to it; I guess I figured right.

I'm in as cortex.
posted by cortex at 3:59 PM on March 15

Oh man this is SO ADDICTIVE.

I can't draw for shit.
posted by lysistrata at 4:06 PM on March 15

yes please, this is such a great game! I'm patricio
posted by patricio at 4:07 PM on March 15

So good.

Link up your profile and drawings, people... I wanna see.

My drawings, so far. Yeah, I'm using a Bamboo tablet, cheater-style. I've had it for a bit, but this game has caused me to actually started using it. It's odd and uncomfortable right now, but I'm learning—sure beats drawing with a mouse.

I still haven't received a single MeFi invite, dammit. This is the best online EPYC yet, but the guy who made this needs to improve the invite/private game system. I'm guessing that is low on his list of things to work on, though.

My wishlist:

* Better invite/private game system
* Bigger canvas
* More (or just better) colors
* An eraser
* A 'paint bucket' tool
posted by defenestration at 4:11 PM on March 15

actually *start* using it. Edit feature, plz?
posted by defenestration at 4:13 PM on March 15

Alright, for future reference, here is the user list from Metafilter that I have so far:

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,Rhaomi,MarisaS gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,Krrrlson,cortex,patricio

No spaces after commas, as per instructions. If you want to start a game inviting Mefites, go to Start New Game, and then scroll down the left-hand margin, selecting "Private". If you decide to use all the names on this list - and there's close to 40 here - then select a number of passes greater than that. Otherwise, try splitting the names up into odd-numbered groups. You should get a notification of invitation via email.

The system seems to be pretty touch-and-go, with some people getting invites and others not. But you can at least use this user list to look out for other Mefites who might've ended up in one of your completed games with you.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:14 PM on March 15

I'm in as hoopy, and I'm an addict.
posted by h00py at 4:14 PM on March 15

Thanks for the Tubgirl, notquitemaryann.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 4:15 PM on March 15

Wow, defenestration, your man with blue flowers is quite nice-- there is something poetic about the way his body is slumped over the table.

I figured this site just started recently and I, too, hope for improvements. An eraser is number one on my wish list. Also I wish the banning would kick in a little quicker-- that guy with the trees was in a lot of games.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:21 PM on March 15

OK, defenestration, here are my drawings. (On a trackpad, bitches.)

Also, totally bizarre: I looked at your drawings, and on the one with the guy getting attacked by the tube things there's the drawing of the epileptic Wii game (tv with the dots)...I totally wrote the response to that picture, but that's not my response. What goes on here?
posted by phunniemee at 4:22 PM on March 15

As (so original) aspo I've been learning just how hard it is draw with a trackpad.
posted by aspo at 4:23 PM on March 15

An eraser is number one on my wish list

Yes. It's hard enough drawing using my finger and a trackpad. "Undo line" is alright, but it'd be nice to be able to clean up our drawings a tad.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:24 PM on March 15

OK, defenestration, here are my drawings

Good Lord! You have been a busy little beaver!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:27 PM on March 15

I was thinking another pony that would be nice is a forum area to discuss problems, swap ideas for improving pictures, etc. I was in such a fog as to why my drawings were all disappearing.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:29 PM on March 15

Some of you folks are really talented! Also, this is so much fun. The best way to wrap up a pleasant Sunday, really.
posted by lysistrata at 4:29 PM on March 15

Mefites still playing? I just joined as silkygreenbelly.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 4:29 PM on March 15

My husband just pointed out that it was a really poor decision to delete all the tree guy's games-- it was like letting him win because he managed to spoil it for the rest of us. My favorite drawing was deleted with no option for saving it. By the way, we (husband and self) are both playing under the name of Secretlife but since our artistic ability is pretty much equal you won't be able to tell the difference. (Two addicts, one computer.)
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:33 PM on March 15

The MeFi Galleries:

darksasami
ORthey
chowflap
chococat
betafilter
ericb
uncleozzy
MCMikeNamara
evilangela
Rhaomi
goodnewsfortheinsane
Joey Michaels
dunkadunc
Secret Life of Gravy
Marisa Stole the Precious Thing
Xezlec
potsmokinghippieoverlord
liza
ob
twirlypen
houseofdanie
kosher_jenny
bookish
defenestration
phunniemee
localhuman
riane
Kimothy
MsVader
headless
theiconoclast31
team lowkey
Lotto
Alvy Ampersand
notquitemaryann
bunglin jones & sconbie
lysistrata
Krrrlson
cortex
patricio
posted by defenestration at 4:37 PM on March 15 [5 favorites]

In as CKmtl, bring it.
posted by CKmtl at 4:37 PM on March 15

I'm in as daisyace. Is there a way to keep an updateable list at the top here?
posted by daisyace at 4:41 PM on March 15

Anytime, Mr. Ampersand!
posted by notquitemaryann at 4:41 PM on March 15

What's with the fucking trees?
posted by Krrrlson at 4:45 PM on March 15

Secret Life of Gravy: "Wow, defenestration, your man with blue flowers is quite nice-- there is something poetic about the way his body is slumped over the table."

Thanks. That was one of my favorites, too. I love coming up with an idea and trying to execute it very quickly. The ten minute time limit is perfect—well, it would be, if there was an eraser.

I can't wait to get in on a MeFi game. I wish the invite implementation wasn't so hit-or-miss.
posted by defenestration at 4:45 PM on March 15

I think I'm probably proudest of these two.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:45 PM on March 15

Has anyone confirmed that you get an email when the invite goes through?
posted by defenestration at 4:52 PM on March 15

I'm in, too, as cobaltnine.

I always love pictionary type games and it seems every time I find a good one, three games later it's all poop jokes and penises and people drawing words.

I have higher hopes for this. Not much higher, but still...
posted by cobaltnine at 5:00 PM on March 15

I have not seen any poop jokes or penises, but i am seeing a shit-ton of trees.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 5:05 PM on March 15

Oh, those are just penises with leaves.
posted by notquitemaryann at 5:07 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

I'm in as Johanna.
posted by amarynth at 5:08 PM on March 15

divabat here. How do you see your past drawings? None of mine are showing up.
posted by divabat at 5:10 PM on March 15

They show up when the game's completed.
posted by CKmtl at 5:12 PM on March 15

divabat: they don't show up until your game has completed
posted by phunniemee at 5:12 PM on March 15

I'm signed in as HopperFan
posted by HopperFan at 5:13 PM on March 15

I've discovered I have no idea how to draw a bear.
posted by h00py at 5:17 PM on March 15

sadly, there are getting to be a lot of tree trollers in there
posted by patricio at 5:19 PM on March 15

Someone just made me draw an Asian stereotype and now I feel dirty. On the up side, I got to work in a (completely relevant, I swear!) superfluous nipple reference during another game so things could be worse.
posted by lysistrata at 5:20 PM on March 15

Yeah, the tree trollers suck.
posted by lysistrata at 5:21 PM on March 15

Late to the thread due to wasting all my time on BPT, but I'm clarissawam there, same as here.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 5:24 PM on March 15

Someone just made me draw an Asian stereotype and now I feel dirty.

Hi! Blame whoever supplied the picture I had to describe.
posted by CKmtl at 5:27 PM on March 15

Wouldn't it be nice if foolish people got a thrill out of not joining in? The internet would be a completely different place.
posted by h00py at 5:28 PM on March 15

Why don't we try a small invite game with the people who are online, in this thread, right now. That way we know everyone will do their part quickly—no waiting for people who aren't available—and we can see if the invites actually work.

Who's in? We can do an game with 11 spots.

defenestration
spot 2
spot 3
spot 4
spot 5
spot 6
spot 7
spot 8
spot 9
spot 10
spot 11
posted by defenestration at 5:31 PM on March 15

I'll play!
posted by notquitemaryann at 5:32 PM on March 15

I'm in. I'll probably be doing this all night.
posted by lysistrata at 5:33 PM on March 15 [2 favorites]

i'll give it a whirl.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 5:33 PM on March 15

yes please
posted by patricio at 5:33 PM on March 15

Someone just made me draw an Asian stereotype and now I feel dirty.

Hi! Blame whoever supplied the picture I had to describe.

Ha! I can't wait to see that completed game.
posted by lysistrata at 5:33 PM on March 15

A tale of redemption and hope.
posted by Krrrlson at 5:34 PM on March 15

Krrrlson, I'm loving our suicide men.
posted by phunniemee at 5:34 PM on March 15

I'm in too please.
posted by h00py at 5:35 PM on March 15

I'd like a spot (as daisyace)!
posted by daisyace at 5:35 PM on March 15

defen: me, me, me!!!
posted by phunniemee at 5:35 PM on March 15

defenestration
notquitemaryann
lysistrata
silkygreenbelly
patricio
hoopy
daisyace
phunniemee
spot 9
spot 10
spot 11
posted by defenestration at 5:36 PM on March 15

Has anyone confirmed that you get an email when the invite goes through?

Yeah, has anyone? I still haven't received any invite emails. Other emails from BPT come through fine.

defenestration, have you thought of a starter text? I've been sitting on one and I can't draw on my laptop.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:37 PM on March 15

defenestration
notquitemaryann
lysistrata
silkygreenbelly
patricio
hoopy
daisyace
phunniemee
gnfti
spot 10
spot 11

goodnewsfortheinsane: No, and I'd actually prefer drawing—if I get lucky, that is. You're welcome to start the game off!
posted by defenestration at 5:39 PM on March 15

I''m in
posted by Krrrlson at 5:40 PM on March 15

Sure thing! I'm standing by.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:40 PM on March 15

How can we be sure we get into the game if no invites are going out? Should we just keep joining games until we get in?
posted by lysistrata at 5:40 PM on March 15

Thinking out loud: maybe it is that you only get an invite when it's your turn? Just speculation.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:42 PM on March 15

me?
posted by divabat at 5:43 PM on March 15

That's my guess too, gnfti. And that it waits for each person to accept the invite and complete the task before it moves on to the next person. We need just one more to find out!

Before starting the game, do we have all of those names spelled right?
posted by defenestration at 5:44 PM on March 15

defenestration
notquitemaryann
lysistrata
silkygreenbelly
patricio
hoopy
daisyace
phunniemee
gnfti
Krrrlson
divabat

There ya go gnfti, commence the experiment!
posted by defenestration at 5:45 PM on March 15

Mine is spelled correctly.
posted by lysistrata at 5:45 PM on March 15

I'm in as "thatguy"
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:47 PM on March 15

I just signed up as Dejah.
posted by dejah420 at 5:50 PM on March 15

Okay, just to confirm, I have invited:

defenestration,notquitemaryann,lysistrata,silkygreenbelly,patricio,hoopy,daisyace,phunniemee,Krrrlson,divabat

and set the game to 11 rounds, general, private, make public on complete.

Game has been submitted:

":: your game has been created. you will be notified when it has completed."

Good luck, guys! I hope this works!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:50 PM on March 15

I'm sorry Brandon, this one was already full.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:51 PM on March 15

(if you meant the current game)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:51 PM on March 15

No email, no pop up on the site or anything, so far. Anyone else?
posted by defenestration at 5:55 PM on March 15

I'm in as burnmp3s. This thing needs a flagging system to ban guys like MauMauPlate who ruin games.
posted by burnmp3s at 5:56 PM on March 15

No worries gnfti, I'll have my revenge, arch-nemesis.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:57 PM on March 15

no emails or anything yet. Although anytime i try to submit something it just spins and won't update.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 5:58 PM on March 15

Just got the invite. Gonna check it out now. Wee.
posted by defenestration at 5:58 PM on March 15

I got an invite from a gnifti.
posted by Krrrlson at 5:58 PM on March 15

Yay!

*gives brandon blatcher narrow-eyed, tense stare*
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:00 PM on March 15

I got to make a caption. Done. I can't wait to see the whole thing. Hopefully next time I get to draw!
posted by defenestration at 6:02 PM on March 15

I wonder: if you make the amount of turns two times the amount of players, will everyone get to do both tasks—make a caption and draw?
posted by defenestration at 6:05 PM on March 15

Did you guys get the invite by email?
posted by lysistrata at 6:06 PM on March 15

I think not - it says that if you invite fewer players than number of turns it will add random players
posted by patricio at 6:06 PM on March 15

Yeah, the invite was an email. Subject: BrokenPictureTelephone - Private Game Invitation.
posted by defenestration at 6:07 PM on March 15

It says on the submit page that it picks random players for the remaining slots, so I'd say no. Also, if you are aware that this is a (/your) private game you have prior knowledge, so to speak.

I do wonder what happens when you invite *more* than the # of rounds minus one -- I was tempted to invite myself too (making 11) but I didn't want to challenge fate.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:08 PM on March 15

nothing yet
posted by patricio at 6:08 PM on March 15

do you only get it when it is your turn? I have been religiously refreshing my email and haven't gotten anything other than completed game notices.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 6:09 PM on March 15

It appears so, silkygreenbelly.
posted by defenestration at 6:10 PM on March 15

To appease our impatience, perhaps those who have been invited *and/or* have submitted their game entry could post this info back here, so we can gather which players remain?

This would have the added benefit of tracking the arcane inner workings of the game server somewhat.

Also, this goes without saying, but: NO SPOILERS PLEASE.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:13 PM on March 15

I got the invite, and as soon as I followed it, I got to take my turn. My guess is that it then waited for me to finish before it sent the next invite out. Looks like it didn't go in the order that the names were entered. I got to draw.
posted by daisyace at 6:13 PM on March 15

Yay, got my invite and done.
posted by h00py at 6:14 PM on March 15

gnfti
Krrlson
defenestration
daisyace
hoopy
pending 6
pending 7
pending 8
pending 9
pending 10
pending 11
posted by defenestration at 6:16 PM on March 15

Awesome. So far, so good.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:17 PM on March 15

*Krrrlson
posted by defenestration at 6:18 PM on March 15

So, so far that's:

[√] defenestration
[ ] notquitemaryann
[ ] lysistrata
[ ] silkygreenbelly
[ ] patricio
[√] hoopy
[√] daisyace
[ ] phunniemee
[√] gnfti
[√] Krrrlson
[ ] divabat

I think?
posted by daisyace at 6:20 PM on March 15

(Oh, preview skills lacking.)
posted by daisyace at 6:22 PM on March 15

The checks are so much nicer, though!
posted by defenestration at 6:23 PM on March 15

Oh, sigh. I love this game, but none of my laboriously-drawn images have yet appeared in a finished game. I have a trackpad! This is work from my SOUL. Is that stupid tree person to blame?

I've yet to receive an invitation by email, also, tho I know I've been included in a few private games. Not even my spam folder's been hit.

But I love this game.
posted by houseofdanie at 6:25 PM on March 15

Hell to tha yes. I just drew the epicest picture ever. You can check me off the list.
posted by phunniemee at 6:27 PM on March 15

If the "wait for your turn" hypothesis holds water, perhaps we will all in time get invitations from the private games started in the blue. Something doesn't sit right with it, though: I can't really believe the server will wait *forever* for an invited user to contribute. If that's the case, then that would be bad design, IMO.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:29 PM on March 15

[√] defenestration
[ ] notquitemaryann
[ ] lysistrata
[ ] silkygreenbelly
[ ] patricio
[√] hoopy
[√] daisyace
[√] phunniemee
[√] gnfti
[√] Krrrlson
[ ] divabat
posted by defenestration at 6:30 PM on March 15

[√] defenestration
[ ] notquitemaryann
[ ] lysistrata
[ ] silkygreenbelly
[ ] patricio
[√] hoopy
[√] daisyace
[√ ] phunniemee
[√] gnfti
[√] Krrrlson
[ ] divabat

(If anyone else wants to check themselves off, it's just option-v to make a check. At least if you're on a mac.)
posted by daisyace at 6:30 PM on March 15

(Ack, again! I previewed, really!)
posted by daisyace at 6:36 PM on March 15

This game didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I'm still proud of my rendition of "Kidnapper uses own penis as a getaway."
posted by Krrrlson at 6:37 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

Ah, I think we crashed the whole thing.
posted by Krrrlson at 6:38 PM on March 15

Oh dear. Can't connect.
posted by notquitemaryann at 6:38 PM on March 15

AAACK AAAACK AAAACK!!!! THE SERVER DIED!!! AAAAAAHHH!!! HIDE THE CHILDREN!
posted by phunniemee at 6:38 PM on March 15

I think it's broken. I'm getting a MYSQL error when I tried to load the page.
posted by lysistrata at 6:39 PM on March 15

Alright, no need to panic; we just need markers, post-its, and a shitload of stamps.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:39 PM on March 15 [3 favorites]

Um yeah, I didn't preview. In other news, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
posted by lysistrata at 6:39 PM on March 15

Ah, fooey. Now I'll have to do housework. Come back game, come back :{
posted by h00py at 6:39 PM on March 15

Maybe I should take this opportunity to go eat dinner...
and cry into it.
posted by phunniemee at 6:39 PM on March 15

It's back!
posted by lysistrata at 6:40 PM on March 15

Yay, it's back.
posted by h00py at 6:40 PM on March 15

hahaha, oh god we all need an intervention
posted by phunniemee at 6:41 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

Question: How do we all find one another to do a game?
posted by dejah420 at 6:42 PM on March 15

Erm...preview...I'm doin' it wrong.
posted by dejah420 at 6:45 PM on March 15

I'm in as grapefruitmoon.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:47 PM on March 15

Ooh. Just signed up as metroidbaby.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:49 PM on March 15

Ok, this thread with the instructions is confusing the hell out of me, I'm just going to draw some crap and someone can like poke me with a stick to play a game or something. Man. I went to art school, not doing fancy stuff on the internet school!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:52 PM on March 15

I like where this ended up.
posted by lysistrata at 6:54 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

What we have here is a failure to communicate.
posted by patricio at 6:54 PM on March 15

Thought I'd share this one from a while ago...go, go Lincoln!
posted by phunniemee at 7:01 PM on March 15 [2 favorites]

So how about an update on who's received invites so far? I still haven't received mine. I'm guessing the crash might have slowed things down.
posted by lysistrata at 7:02 PM on March 15

Haven't gotten mine yet either.
posted by notquitemaryann at 7:04 PM on March 15

nor I
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:05 PM on March 15

I'm hippu.

I just started one with fairly random assortment of 15 folks from from above. Hope I did it right!
posted by hippugeek at 7:07 PM on March 15

nor me either, and it's going to have to wait until tomorrow now...
posted by patricio at 7:07 PM on March 15

I hope our game didn't vanish into the void because of the crash.
posted by Krrrlson at 7:07 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

Argh it's not working for me! I can't sign in. Nuts.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:07 PM on March 15

Metroid Baby: I was having the same problem. For some reason, it works for me only in Internet Explorer.
posted by phunniemee at 7:17 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

I got yours, hippu!

Man, I should not have started this right before bedtime.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:18 PM on March 15

no email yet. My boyfriend is stealing his mouse back so drawing will be futile with the trackpad. Also, my submisions don't seem to always submit. So I guess i am heading out. Hopefully this site will keep improving.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:25 PM on March 15

The "game cannot be saved to" errors are really frustrating.
posted by CKmtl at 7:26 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

They do apparently ban people now.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:28 PM on March 15

Yay! Just started another for most of the folks I left out the first time...
posted by hippugeek at 7:28 PM on March 15

Oh hai! I think I'm going to be back online for a little while, if another game is coming together. Here's my drawings. I've been coming back to this whenever I've a free moment since I saw it.

It also only seemed to work for me in IE. At least, that was the only way to see the error messages.
posted by team lowkey at 7:29 PM on March 15

Three (possibly, five?) attempts to hijack...and it still turned out ok!
posted by phunniemee at 7:33 PM on March 15

I'm in as bahamamama fun!
posted by bahama mama at 7:43 PM on March 15

Hmm, not working in IE either. I'm just defective. I'll come back and try again later!
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:44 PM on March 15

Sailormom onboard.
posted by Sailormom at 7:51 PM on March 15

Another save!
posted by phunniemee at 7:58 PM on March 15

I just got to draw asavage looking regretful. My night is made.
posted by notquitemaryann at 8:02 PM on March 15

I've participated in two private games, but I guess neither of them has finished yet, because I would get a notification email, right?
posted by chowflap at 8:03 PM on March 15

I'm is as clearly
posted by clearly at 8:06 PM on March 15

whomever is the tree dude needs to get something else to do.
posted by localhuman at 8:20 PM on March 15

I suppose you would, yes, chowflap.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:32 PM on March 15

I'm playing as Brainy
posted by Brainy at 8:32 PM on March 15

epic

And yes, I'm suitably chagrined about messing up Ireland's flag on St Patrick's Day.
posted by hippugeek at 8:35 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

If there are still lists being made, I'm in as julen.
posted by julen at 8:37 PM on March 15

I'm on as afu for any new lists, just to warn you, I can't draw.
posted by afu at 8:41 PM on March 15

PS I'm StupidSeven, who just randomly got sucked into a Mefi game on that site...and mistook a parrot for butterfly wings.
posted by Sova at 8:44 PM on March 15

So much excellent bananage.
posted by phunniemee at 8:46 PM on March 15

It's okay, it wasn't a very good parrot.
posted by Krrrlson at 8:47 PM on March 15

You can sit with me then, afu. I would protest that I draw much better with a real pen but it's highly likely that no-one would believe me. Loving this game though, just. can't. stop.
posted by h00py at 8:49 PM on March 15

phunniemeePoster: "So much excellent bananage."

That fuckin' rules. Awesome!
posted by defenestration at 8:50 PM on March 15

wow, i was gonna go to sleep early tonight and everything, but then I ended up where the rest of the world is, apparently. I'm Alison there. also a turtle humps a dog in the pink flames of hell.
posted by AlisonM at 8:51 PM on March 15

Draw. Write. Check email. Draw. Write. Check email. Draw. Write. Check email. This is simply a superb game and a perfect example of something the web does really, really well (except for the fucking TREES.)
posted by lysistrata at 8:55 PM on March 15 [2 favorites]

One handed girl fights with space invader

Does she love me? I hope she likes these blue flowers
posted by defenestration at 9:02 PM on March 15

Must go to bed..... trackpad finger is cramping.
posted by otolith at 9:09 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

I'm nat. And I think I might be addicted to this game.
posted by nat at 9:14 PM on March 15 [1 favorite]

Phunniemee, we've actually been in several games together. Accidentally, but awesomely....
posted by Kimothy at 9:18 PM on March 15

Kimothy: I've seen a lot of us mefites pop up together. For maximum win.
posted by phunniemee at 9:20 PM on March 15

This is a really good exercise in loosening up your drawing skills. I'm not very good at it but the more I draw the more adventurous I get. The time limit helps a lot with that.
posted by lysistrata at 9:21 PM on March 15

Ooh... I can play? "zennie"
posted by zennie at 9:38 PM on March 15

The more I play the worse I get. Time for a little rest, I think, but oh you better believe I'll be back.
posted by h00py at 9:47 PM on March 15

Yeah, I think I'm all drawed out tonight. Hopefully tomorrow some of those invitations go through. Night all! It was really fun!
posted by lysistrata at 10:00 PM on March 15

I'm in as JDHarper
posted by JDHarper at 10:03 PM on March 15

I started two mefi-related games -- if they ever finish, I shall post them here.

My drawings so far.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 10:47 PM on March 15

I'm on as "spiderskull"
posted by spiderskull at 11:17 PM on March 15

I'm laughing so hard. But I'm also crying, because the stoopid site won't send me my registration confirmation email.

I wish someone would make a site like this just for metafilter. Why do you hate me, BrokenPictureTelephone?
posted by taz at 11:19 PM on March 15

Okay, current list, starting after MarisaStPT's list upthread, let me know if I've missed anyone:

Original:
schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,
Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,
shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,
msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,
Krrrlson,cortex,patricio


Additions:
zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,bahamamama,
hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,Secretlife,CKmtl,
daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull

Right now I'm trying to restrain myself from playing until this until I finish work on a project, then I can waste away a whole night again play some more, and I'll start a few more Mefite games as well. A started a couple yesterday in the FPP thread, but it looks those have stalled.
posted by kosher_jenny at 11:28 PM on March 15

I just started one that should send invites to: spiderskull, JDHarper, zennie, Alison, StupidSeven, Brainy, clearly, Sailormom, metroidbaby, & grapefruitmoon.
posted by dejah420 at 11:38 PM on March 15

I'm always up for MeFi game. Probably sleeping soon, though. Or at least I should sleep soon. Heh.
posted by defenestration at 11:44 PM on March 15

Not received any invites yet, but I've been playing the hell out of some other games.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:52 PM on March 15

Okay, I signed up again, this time using IE and a different email, and it let me join... but not with my regular handle (which, of course, now is "taken" - by ME, damn your eyes! Just send me the confirmation!). So, I'm tazzle.

I'll be back in about a half-hour, after I walk the dog, if anyone wants to invite me to anything. :)
posted by taz at 11:58 PM on March 15

Oh man. I'm STILL PLAYING. I should be ASLEEP. This is INSIDIOUS.
posted by lysistrata at 12:15 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]

I just started a couple of MeFi-only games and included everyone Jenny listed above. Can we maybe keep a running list of links to completed games we've done as a group? The ones that haven't been swallowed by the abyss, that is.
posted by houseofdanie at 12:22 AM on March 16

Oops, taz, sorry! Starting another right now, including you.
posted by houseofdanie at 12:23 AM on March 16

Yay!! (pray I don't have to draw anything!)
posted by taz at 12:32 AM on March 16

Well, if you're forced to draw, we'll just be smartasses about it. No big deal!
posted by houseofdanie at 12:33 AM on March 16

*relief*
posted by taz at 12:38 AM on March 16

Taz: In your account settings you can choose if you want to only draw, only write, or both write and draw.

Also:
Oh man. I'm STILL PLAYING. I should be ASLEEP. This is INSIDIOUS.
QFT.
posted by phunniemee at 12:45 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]

Yay! I got my first invite! I bet I know who...
posted by team lowkey at 1:04 AM on March 16

Huh, I'm not getting email invites; hopefully they arrive soon.
posted by spiderskull at 1:07 AM on March 16

Right, I took the above list and divided it into groups of 11 and made 11-round games for each of them (the last group only had seven, so it looks like we'll get a few random users in one game). I'll post links if/when they finish. For my part, I still haven't heard anything about the games I started yesterday, or gotten any invites.

To I hit that "Join an existing game" button? I have the day off tomorrow, but also have a lot of stuff planned, so I shouldn't spend the night playing this game and and....argh!
posted by kosher_jenny at 1:12 AM on March 16

A few quick games before I get ready for bed won't take long, right? Then I can just close the tab and go to sleep. I can stop anytime I want.
posted by kosher_jenny at 1:19 AM on March 16

Heh. lysistrata and I ended up in the same game. Monkey humps an American flag.
posted by taz at 1:21 AM on March 16

I haven't gotten any invites yet, but I came across burnmp3s in one of my games.
posted by Brainy at 1:59 AM on March 16

oh, wow! Defenestration is so good!

So, here is the current updated mefite list, I think:

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,
Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,
shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,
msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,
Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,
bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,
Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,tazzle
posted by taz at 2:11 AM on March 16

I just joined as elmore. I really cannot draw, it seems...
posted by Elmore at 2:35 AM on March 16

Shoot, when I went to bed, I was really hoping that the one gnfti started would be resurrected when I woke up. But it appears the crash ate it. Darn, my assignment for that one was great, and I was looking forward to the reveal.
posted by daisyace at 3:53 AM on March 16

This is pretty awesome. I'll definitely be doing some more of these after work if anyone wants to shoot me an invite or two, you can expect to see some foolishness from me around 6PM Eastern US time.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:20 AM on March 16

I'm creeky, and here's the updated list with me and elmore added:

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,
Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,
shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,
msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,
Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,
bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,
Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,
tazzle,elmore,creeky
posted by creeky at 4:28 AM on March 16

I'm on as bunnytricks.
posted by bunnytricks at 4:28 AM on March 16

I'm in as minifigs
posted by minifigs at 4:39 AM on March 16

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,
Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,
shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,
msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,
Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,
bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,
Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,
tazzle,elmore,creeky, bunnytricks, minifigs, readery

I love this game. But I will need to get some actual work done today. Or tomorrow.
posted by readery at 5:26 AM on March 16

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,
Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,
shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,
msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,
Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,
bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,
Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,
tazzle,elmore,creeky,bunnytricks,minifigs,readery,syzygy

Looking forward to my first game...
posted by syzygy at 6:05 AM on March 16

schkoo, ORthey, chowflap, bgm, sarahemily, ericb, uncleozzy, LogopolisMike, evilangela, satan, Rhaomi, MarisaS, gnfti, JoeyMichaels, muncadunc, Secretlife, Xezlec, psho, liza, twirlypen, shamefuljenny, missdanie, ladycrappo, defenestration, phunniemee, localhuman, kimothy, msvader, ps2420, yaymukund, lowkey, Ampersand, notquitemaryann, sconbie, lysistrata, Krrrlson, cortex, patricio, zennie, nat, StupidSteven, julen, afu, Brainy, clearly, sailormom, bahamamama, hippu, metroidbaby, grapefruitmoon, hooperfan, hoopy, aspo, silkygreenbelly, Secretlife, CKmtl, daisyace, cobaltnine, Johanna, divabat, JDharper, spiderskull, Dejah, burnmp3s, tazzle, elmore, creeky, bunnytricks, minifigs, readery, rocksteady
posted by Rock Steady at 6:07 AM on March 16

D'oh!

schkoo, ORthey, chowflap, bgm, sarahemily, ericb, uncleozzy, LogopolisMike, evilangela, satan, Rhaomi, MarisaS, gnfti, JoeyMichaels, muncadunc, Secretlife, Xezlec, psho, liza, twirlypen, shamefuljenny, missdanie, ladycrappo, defenestration, phunniemee, localhuman, kimothy, msvader, ps2420, yaymukund, lowkey, Ampersand, notquitemaryann, sconbie, lysistrata, Krrrlson, cortex, patricio, zennie, nat, StupidSteven, julen, afu, Brainy, clearly, sailormom, bahamamama, hippu, metroidbaby, grapefruitmoon, hooperfan, hoopy, aspo, silkygreenbelly, Secretlife, CKmtl, daisyace, cobaltnine, Johanna, divabat, JDharper, spiderskull, Dejah, burnmp3s, tazzle, elmore, creeky, bunnytricks, minifigs, readery, syzygy, rocksteady
posted by Rock Steady at 6:08 AM on March 16

metatalk went 24 hours without a post. Just pointing that out. Yay!
posted by cjorgensen at 6:20 AM on March 16

With me added:

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,
Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,
shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,
msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,
Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,
bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,
Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,tazzle, skyanth
posted by Skyanth at 6:21 AM on March 16

Oops sorry I mean:

schkoo, ORthey, chowflap, bgm, sarahemily, ericb, uncleozzy, LogopolisMike, evilangela, satan, Rhaomi, MarisaS, gnfti, JoeyMichaels, muncadunc, Secretlife, Xezlec, psho, liza, twirlypen, shamefuljenny, missdanie, ladycrappo, defenestration, phunniemee, localhuman, kimothy, msvader, ps2420, yaymukund, lowkey, Ampersand, notquitemaryann, sconbie, lysistrata, Krrrlson, cortex, patricio, zennie, nat, StupidSteven, julen, afu, Brainy, clearly, sailormom, bahamamama, hippu, metroidbaby, grapefruitmoon, hooperfan, hoopy, aspo, silkygreenbelly, Secretlife, CKmtl, daisyace, cobaltnine, Johanna, divabat, JDharper, spiderskull, Dejah, burnmp3s, tazzle, elmore, creeky, bunnytricks, minifigs, readery, syzygy, rocksteady, skyanth
posted by Skyanth at 6:22 AM on March 16

I KEEP DOING IT WRONG.

I don't deserve to play this game :(
posted by Skyanth at 6:22 AM on March 16

Oh thank og for that. I'd like to think that everyone is too involved in drawing non sequiturs on another website to be bothered pointing out how annoying everything is on this one {I think this website is too cool for school, actually, and I bother everyone I know in the real world with references to it, so I don't understand the bug that gets up people's arse.. but then I've never really had a beef with anyone on here. Having said that, after playing this game for so long I picture a floating piece of steak with the word Metafilter above it surrounded by lady beetles emerging from a bum, which can only mean I've been playing this game for too long}.
posted by h00py at 6:29 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]

I'm PEEP over there.
posted by peep at 7:24 AM on March 16

I just completed my part of the 4 private games I was invited to over the weekend. I moved this weekend, and have neither internet nor the energy to sit upright at home.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:33 AM on March 16

I am completely obsessed. Played half the night and the whole morning so far. On my trackpad until I can get back to my own computer tomorrow night. And I can't stop laughing.

My username is lamp. My drawings are horrible! But they'll be better tomorrow.
posted by lampoil at 7:43 AM on March 16

An epic tale of pumpkins and poop
posted by minifigs at 7:50 AM on March 16

I'm in as schyler523...i'm drawing making pictures with a trackpad and I'm already horrible at drawing making pictures.
posted by schyler523 at 7:50 AM on March 16

I have yet to get an invite to a private game. This makes me think maybe there's a setting or something that I didn't check? Anyone know?

Or maybe you guys just think I suck and haven't invited me. ;)
posted by MsVader at 8:08 AM on March 16

Another pony on my wish list (....I hope that the people who started this site had an idea at how huge this is going to become):

A separate section for private groups. That is, a section where you can opt to play only with the members of your group (like elfster) so that you don't end up in games with tree people and have all your work deleted.

The email invitations seem to work very sporadically; I, for one, have yet to receive an invitation. Unfortunately now I have to go do something in real life. But I'll be back!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:10 AM on March 16

I've joined as misha--hope I do this right!

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,
Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,
shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,
msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,
Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,
bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,
Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,tazzle,skyanth,misha
posted by misha at 8:44 AM on March 16

I hope I don't regret this....

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,tazzle,skyanth,misha,notondisplay

Actually, I hope the rest of you don't regret this.
posted by not_on_display at 8:56 AM on March 16

Using a tablet doesn't make this as easy as I would hope. But fun.
posted by cortex at 9:19 AM on March 16

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,tazzle,skyanth,misha,notondisplay,rocksteady,peep

Good idea, not_on_display, but I keep getting left off the latest "builds" so I've put myself and peep on.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:31 AM on March 16

Drawing with a trackball is hard.
posted by CKmtl at 9:35 AM on March 16

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,tazzle,skyanth,misha,notondisplay,rocksteady,peep,minifigs


Just realised I'd dropped off the build too.
posted by minifigs at 9:39 AM on March 16

I haven't been getting invited to games, even though I'm on like ten gillion of those lists.
posted by theiconoclast31 at 9:41 AM on March 16

I'm in as pocketfluff. Too many aliens!
posted by pocketfluff at 9:44 AM on March 16

I'm in.

schkoo,ORthey,chowflap,bgm,sarahemily,ericb,uncleozzy,LogopolisMike,evilangela,satan,Rhaomi,MarisaS,gnfti,JoeyMichaels,muncadunc,Secretlife,Xezlec,psho,liza,twirlypen,shamefuljenny,missdanie,ladycrappo,defenestration,phunniemee,localhuman,kimothy,msvader,kps2420,yaymukund,lowkey,Ampersand,notquitemaryann,sconbie,lysistrata,Krrrlson,cortex,patricio,zennie,nat,StupidSteven,julen,afu,Brainy,clearly,sailormom,bahamamama,hippu,metroidbaby,grapefruitmoon,hooperfan,hoopy,aspo,silkygreenbelly,Secretlife,CKmtl,daisyace,cobaltnine,Johanna,divabat,JDharper,spiderskull,Dejah,burnmp3s,tazzle,skyanth,misha,notondisplay,rocksteady,peep,minifigs,schyler523
posted by schyler523 at 9:56 AM on March 16

If the site freakin' times out on my artful profile pic self-portrait I am going to throw something.
posted by cortex at 10:20 AM on March 16

I too have an artful profile pic self-portrait, except I came out 20 years younger, and 20 pounds lighter (gee, how did that happen) and my dog's nose is too long.

Somebody leave me a comment, I'm feeling lonely.
posted by taz at 10:51 AM on March 16

The reason we're not getting invites is because the game will not progress if only one doesn't respond. We should try to make the games a more reasonable size so they have a higher chance of completion. The next time you do an invite, select ten random names from the list instead of using the whole list.
posted by Krrrlson at 10:58 AM on March 16

Man, I've just about had it with the tablet people making everyone else look bad.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:15 AM on March 16

I was playing Saturday as yarrow, but I'm hesitant to start again as it truly is addictive!
posted by yarrow at 11:22 AM on March 16

Here's a list of everyone's drawings so far:
schkoo
ORthey
chowflap
bgm
sarahemily
ericb
uncleozzy
LogopolisMike
evilangela
satan
Rhaomi
MarisaS
gnfti
JoeyMichaels
muncadunc
Secretlife
Xezlec
psho
liza
twirlypen
shamefuljenny
missdanie
ladycrappo
defenestration
phunniemee
localhuman
kimothy
msvader
kps2420
yaymukund
lowkey
Ampersand
notquitemaryann
sconbie
lysistrata
Krrrlson
cortex
patricio
zennie
nat
StupidSteven
julen
afu
Brainy
clearly
sailormom
bahamamama
hippu
metroidbaby
grapefruitmoon
hooperfan
hoopy
aspo
silkygreenbelly
Secretlife
CKmtl
daisyace
cobaltnine
Johanna
divabat
JDharper
spiderskull
Dejah
burnmp3s
tazzle
skyanth
misha
notondisplay
rocksteady
peep
minifigs
schyler523
yarrow
posted by spiderskull at 11:25 AM on March 16 [3 favorites]

Oh, sweet Jesus! I think I spawned a monster! I was busy yesterday and so I've just come back to check on MeFi thread and now it's on the grey and seemingly everyone is into this and people aren't sleeping. I feel mildly guilty that the addictions that I've inadvertently caused will negatively impact the GDP of a couple of nations.
posted by ob at 11:26 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]

I just invited 10 who have commented here recently... Look out!
posted by taz at 11:27 AM on March 16

HAVING SAID THAT... I'll be up for a game sometime after 5 pacific, in the meantime, I really have to get some work done, so I'll bow out. Please let me know if there are any games going to be coming up around then...
posted by ob at 11:28 AM on March 16

oops! That was before you and spiderskull, ob.
posted by taz at 11:31 AM on March 16

Addendum to spiderskull's list:
otolith
invitations plz
posted by otolith at 11:43 AM on March 16

Having seen all my private attempts, upthread and earlier in the blue, disappear into the void somehow, I (gnfti) too am up for a private game today.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:47 AM on March 16

Thanks for inviting me Taz! Hope my drawing isn't too godawful for whoever's next.
posted by minifigs at 12:06 PM on March 16

I have otolith, gnfti, and spiderskull, on a list for a short one (5 players)... whoever wants to be added comment... NOW! :)
posted by taz at 12:13 PM on March 16

If no one else responds in the next five minutes I'm up for another one.
posted by minifigs at 12:19 PM on March 16

I've added minifigs!
posted by taz at 12:20 PM on March 16

Add
posted by Krrrlson at 12:21 PM on March 16

I do have you on the earlier game, Krrrlson - don't know if you got that one yet. If anyone starts a new one, add me too plz.
posted by taz at 12:37 PM on March 16

Yeah, I started one recently with a bunch of the recent commenters, don't know the status of it at the moment.
posted by Krrrlson at 12:43 PM on March 16

I'm starting an 11 person game

tazzle,
gnfti,
spiderskull,
Krrrlson,
otolith,
Spot 6,
Spot 7,
Spot 8,
Spot 9,
Spot 10,
Spot 11
posted by minifigs at 12:43 PM on March 16

Anybody know if your email preferences affect whether or not you get the invites? I turned off the notifications when games are completed and the "important updates" option because I always turn those sorts of things off when I join a new site, but I don't want to screw up anyone's private games.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:55 PM on March 16

Ya, weird. I got a few invites yesterday, but no emails since last night.
posted by chococat at 12:59 PM on March 16

I'm in for a small, private game.
posted by MsVader at 1:00 PM on March 16

minifigs, count me in! (phunniemee)
posted by phunniemee at 1:02 PM on March 16

tazzle,
gnfti,
spiderskull,
Krrrlson,
otolith,
burnmp3s,
msvader,
chococat,
phunniemee,
Spot 11,
posted by minifigs at 1:04 PM on March 16

HAY GUISE I'm scrump
posted by scrump at 1:08 PM on March 16

I'll be in for Spot 11
posted by julen at 1:08 PM on March 16

You only have ten spots for an 11-round game, or 11 if you include yourself. I'm still in though.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 1:14 PM on March 16

Sorry guys, I filled the eleventh spot randomly just before scrump posted.
posted by minifigs at 1:21 PM on March 16

Argh. Got a private game invite and the page had an error when I tried to save my answer, so it skipped the game. Hoping it doesn't mess things up.
posted by notquitemaryann at 1:33 PM on March 16

And I can't seem to register. It won't send me an email or anything.

Wah! I hate being left out!
posted by never used baby shoes at 1:35 PM on March 16

same thing happened to me. I had to reregister with another name and email... I have no idea why.
posted by taz at 1:39 PM on March 16

hmmm... I still haven't received minifigs' invitation yet; I have a feeling there are some bugs in the private game functionality. Unfortunately, I'll have to be off to bed in a bit- I hope it's not going to fubar things.
posted by taz at 1:50 PM on March 16

Is it time to accept that the game gnfti started last night got swallowed by the ether when we had that crash? Or is it possible it's still hung up in someone's inbox (notquitemaryann, lysistrata, silkygreenbelly, patricio, phunniemee or divabat)? If the former, can we have spoilers now? I'm dying to know what gnfti and then defenestration wrote before it got to me, and what h00py wrote after me.
posted by daisyace at 1:52 PM on March 16

daisy: According to our records, I drew my pic for that game approximately 10 minutes before the great mysql error of aught-nine. I, too, am eager to know what the beginning phrase was.
posted by phunniemee at 2:00 PM on March 16

OK, I just did my part for the minifigs game.

I'm glad to see that the private game invitations DO work... sometimes.
posted by MsVader at 2:04 PM on March 16

Both of Taz's have gotten through to me.
posted by minifigs at 2:06 PM on March 16

Hmmm. I'm willing to entertain the notion that someone's inbox might still be ringing. I believe

notquitemaryann
lysistrata
silkygreenbelly
patricio

still need to check in. We could check with them and see if we can narrow it down. I'll scroll upthread right now and see if anyone of these have left any more info since yesterday, it's difficult to search with all the username lists.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:07 PM on March 16

Not me, guys. I never received an invite and I am definitely getting emails from the site because it is notifying me of completed games.
posted by lysistrata at 2:16 PM on March 16

Thanks, lysistrata. Disregard the MeMail I just sent you. I also MeMailed the three others.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:18 PM on March 16

Aw, it seems the private game may have died. I guess MeFi BPT meet-ups will have to be somewhat random, for now. I really hope the guy who made this works out a good private game system.

MeFi <3 BPT. I'll be playing tonight. Hopefully I wind up in some games with other MeFites.
posted by defenestration at 2:37 PM on March 16

I hates it when I spend all this time on an image, then it's all like, "SORRY COULDN'T SUBMIT PICTURE." God damn you, free service with very reasonable and unobtrusive ads!
posted by spiderskull at 2:39 PM on March 16

Also, feel free to invite me into new private game experiments. We must complete one, dammit! I will create my drawing or caption ASAP, after receiving the invitation email. We should keep the private games small.
posted by defenestration at 2:40 PM on March 16

We could try a 5-round game RIGHT NOW, just to test...?

1 gnfti
2 defenstration
3
4
5
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:42 PM on March 16

I'm seeing your names pop up *waaay* to often for you to be doing any real work.

And let's just not discuss what that says about me.
posted by Krrrlson at 2:43 PM on March 16

I'm in for test.
posted by Krrrlson at 2:43 PM on March 16

Ugh, I just botched one by accident - I hit 'save' when I meant to hit 'clear' and somehow ended up with a 'skip' in the end.

That being said, some games might be pending because, I, for example, can't do this at work, and even though I got an invite from someone at 11 am, I couldn't get online to do it until ten minutes ago.
posted by cobaltnine at 2:44 PM on March 16

I had to reregister with another name and email... I have no idea why.

Well, I've tried with two separate names and addresses - and nothing. So, I'm trying to accept that the universe won't allow me to play for some reason.
posted by never used baby shoes at 2:52 PM on March 16

I'm in for the small test.
posted by lysistrata at 2:53 PM on March 16

I'm seeing your names pop up *waaay* to often for you to be doing any real work.

Heh. Yeah, my productivity is shot. But I can't stop! I have a problem.
posted by lysistrata at 2:56 PM on March 16

I'm done with work! Whoohoo! I got one game so far and I'm open for more throughout the evening :)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 2:56 PM on March 16

Down for the 5-rounder as well. Lets give it a go.
posted by defenestration at 2:58 PM on March 16

1 gnfti
2 defenestration
3 lysistrata
4 Krrrlson
5

gfm, are you grapefruitmoon on BPT? defenestration, still in?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:58 PM on March 16

Cool, defenestration.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:59 PM on March 16

never used baby shoes: try it on Internet Explorer
gnfti: count me in if there's an open spot!
cobaltnine: this happened to me...I clicked the wrong button and thought I screwed up, but when I clicked the link in the email again it let me start over (whew!)
posted by phunniemee at 3:00 PM on March 16

1 minute to wait for grapefruitmoon b/c she checked in first. Else phunniemee.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:03 PM on March 16

*DING*
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:04 PM on March 16

Okay, I invited defenestration,lysistrata,Krrrlson,phunniemee for a five-rounder.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:05 PM on March 16

Yeah, I'm grapefruitmoon on that thingy with the pictures!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:07 PM on March 16

OK, got my invite and drew my drawing. I had to make it a little . . . "mature" but I had no choice! The text demanded it!
posted by lysistrata at 3:13 PM on March 16

Just to check in with people, I have received four private game invites in the last 24 hours: from gntfi, missdanie, ShamefulJenny, and minifigs.
posted by phunniemee at 3:15 PM on March 16

I switched to words only when I got into bed with my laptop AND THEN KEPT DESCRIBING UNTIL I RAN OUT OF GAMES.

This is seriously a tough one to break.
posted by Brainy at 3:18 PM on March 16

Haha yeah, I imagined there might be a way to do it "cleanly" but if not, then all the merrier :). Just what I could come up with off the top of my head.

Which reminds me, I take it back, let's spoil yesterday's game. I apologise for my naively holding out hope. The server must have eaten it.

The starter text of yesterday's game was "Matt Haughey has a new recumbent bicycle".
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:19 PM on March 16

Hey sorry guys, I just woke up and saw an invite so I joined in. Feel free to add me onto another game.
posted by divabat at 3:20 PM on March 16

gnfti: The description I was given was something like "nude Tour de France rider crashes bike and waves bag of chips." And that is what I drew.
posted by phunniemee at 3:23 PM on March 16

oi, you guys... it's after midnight here, and I have to turn in; hopefully I won't hold up the game I'm in. See you on the flipflop!
posted by taz at 3:23 PM on March 16

I want to play too!
posted by Kimothy at 3:23 PM on March 16

OK, I'm going to set up a new short game of five. Who wants in?
posted by lysistrata at 3:25 PM on March 16

I'm in!
posted by Kimothy at 3:25 PM on March 16

me! me! me!
posted by phunniemee at 3:26 PM on March 16

Finished my drawing. Not bad. Can't wait to see the finished product.
posted by defenestration at 3:27 PM on March 16

It's done!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:29 PM on March 16

Yay!
posted by phunniemee at 3:29 PM on March 16

Linky
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:29 PM on March 16

And it's quality good.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:31 PM on March 16

Again!
posted by Krrrlson at 3:31 PM on March 16

Heh. Excellent. We managed to keep to the tater theme. I think there's more potential for surreal humor in the longer games but the wonky invite system makes them difficult to manage.
posted by lysistrata at 3:32 PM on March 16

OK, so far I have kimothy and phunniemee for the new five person game. think we could shoot for eleven people this time? Maybe let random members finish it up and see where it goes?
posted by lysistrata at 3:33 PM on March 16

I'm in.
posted by Krrrlson at 3:35 PM on March 16

I should say let random members finish it up if we can't get eleven Mefites.
posted by lysistrata at 3:35 PM on March 16

I'm in!
posted by MsVader at 3:36 PM on March 16

I'm in
posted by Brainy at 3:38 PM on March 16

I was involved in a tater game earlier on. And I got rickrolled.
posted by minifigs at 3:39 PM on March 16

also, I'm in.
posted by minifigs at 3:40 PM on March 16

At least we know it works! 11 steps should be perfect; hopefully we can pull it off.

I just got an invite from misha and did a drawing that I like quite a bit. I hope the game is completed.
posted by defenestration at 3:40 PM on March 16

If you shoot for eleven, I'm in. =]
posted by defenestration at 3:41 PM on March 16

Sounds good, let's play!
posted by Kimothy at 3:41 PM on March 16

Oh, and btw...taters, brilliant.
posted by Kimothy at 3:41 PM on March 16

So far:

1 lysistrata
2 kimothy
3 phunnimee
4 Krrrlson
5 msvader
6 Brainy
7 minifigs
8 defenestration

Do I have everyone's name right? If I don't get three more within a few minutes I start it up and let random members fill in the last spots.
posted by lysistrata at 3:42 PM on March 16

REQUEST FOR BPT PLAYERS:

Sorry about the bold caps, but this thread is getting pretty big.

I started a little page on the Wiki for players to add their accounts. It is adapted from spiderskull's latest version upthread, so the BPT links go to the players' drawing pages. I'd suggest keeping it that way for now, as they're pretty neat to browse. I would urge all players to add a link to their account, and include a link to their Metafilter profile while they're at it (especially if your MeFi and BPT usernames differ from one another).
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:44 PM on March 16 [2 favorites]

I'm going to start a second game with the same people so lysistrata gets a chance to play, and to boost our chances of completing at least one game.
posted by Krrrlson at 3:44 PM on March 16

BTW, lysistrata... Great hardcore/softcore taters—now we truly know what they are. Good starter, gnfti. Hilarious.
posted by defenestration at 3:46 PM on March 16

If it's not too late I'll join, lysistrata.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:46 PM on March 16

I'm in.
posted by clearly at 3:50 PM on March 16

I just submitted my entry for taz's game. The email was two hours old, so sorry I missed it earlier.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:52 PM on March 16

And it's done!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:52 PM on March 16

OK, I'm starting a game with kimothy,phunniemee,Krrrlson,msvader,Brainy,minifigs,defenestration,gnfti,clearly

I'll let random players fill in the last two spots.
posted by lysistrata at 3:53 PM on March 16

OK, all set up. The first invite should be going out now.
posted by lysistrata at 3:56 PM on March 16

When more of these MeFi games are completed, we'll have to collect the best ones and put them on the Wiki.
posted by defenestration at 4:00 PM on March 16

In as willpie
posted by willpie at 4:00 PM on March 16

This game is awesome.

Even without organizing a private game, I've seen at least twenty familiar MeFi usernames in the random ones I've done.
posted by clearly at 4:00 PM on March 16

Nothing yet...
posted by Kimothy at 4:01 PM on March 16

I'll join, name is lupercal
posted by fire&wings at 4:02 PM on March 16

kimothy, I think the invites go out in random order so you might be the first on the list but the last one invited.
posted by lysistrata at 4:05 PM on March 16

Eleven round games will always take a while; you have to consider that every person has ten minutes to work on their contribution. Most caption-writers won't take that long, but when drawing you usually want to use all of the time you've been allotted. I rarely have anything but seconds to spare.
posted by defenestration at 4:07 PM on March 16

Yes, and how thrilling those last-minutesecond eyebrows and distant birds and such flourishes!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:10 PM on March 16

Did... this thread just get deleted for a few seconds?
posted by Krrrlson at 4:10 PM on March 16

Yeah, I was adding a link to gnfti's wiki-organizin' comment and hit the wrong button. Heh.
posted by cortex at 4:11 PM on March 16

(Thanks to cortex for adding a wiki link to the top of the thread)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:12 PM on March 16

(and not deleting it)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:13 PM on March 16

phunniemee -- oh, I didn't realize it had made it to you. I suspect that you got h00py's description of my drawing. I'd been given "helmet wearer waves meFi flag over new recumbent bicycle," or something very close to that. Guess my meFi flag looked like a bag of chips. And my outlined helmet wearer looked naked.

Oh well. Time to try again!
posted by daisyace at 4:13 PM on March 16

daisyace, that caption was written by me. I opted to joke less and describe more; the picture I captioned was very clear, but I didn't realize it was number one.
posted by defenestration at 4:19 PM on March 16

Epic lulz
posted by Krrrlson at 4:20 PM on March 16

That caption sounds like it was written from my image, which I drew from the starting line about mathowie having a new recumbent bike.
posted by Krrrlson at 4:21 PM on March 16

OK - just submitted a drawing for lysistrata's game.

I almost ran out of time because it took the text so long to load.
posted by MsVader at 4:24 PM on March 16

Krrrlson, how did you make the bike look new? I struggled with that, but you must have done it well, since the text I got maintained that detail.
posted by daisyace at 4:31 PM on March 16

I just had to draw "Hitler, the pope, some ninjas, pacman, a klansman, a farmer and an astronaut" in a non MeFi game. I am exhausted.
posted by minifigs at 4:31 PM on March 16

The bike still had the price tag on it. Clever Krrrlson.
posted by defenestration at 4:32 PM on March 16

Nice!
posted by daisyace at 4:33 PM on March 16

and it didn't fucking save! gah
posted by minifigs at 4:33 PM on March 16

I love how the third and first frames in Krrrlson's link are exactly the same.

QUICK: shall I start another game? State your username if it's not the same as your MeFi username.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:37 PM on March 16

I'm still in.
posted by Krrrlson at 4:38 PM on March 16

I'm in too
posted by MsVader at 4:39 PM on March 16

still in!
posted by lysistrata at 4:40 PM on March 16

In.
posted by cortex at 4:41 PM on March 16

IN!
posted by phunniemee at 4:41 PM on March 16

I'm still here
posted by minifigs at 4:41 PM on March 16

I just did text for Lysistrata's game...and it told me it couldn't be saved. I don't know what that does with the game!
posted by Brainy at 4:42 PM on March 16

I've just signed in - can I play with you guys? Name over there - mosessis
posted by mosessis at 4:42 PM on March 16

Me!
posted by daisyace at 4:42 PM on March 16

1 gnfti
2 krrrlson
3 msvader
4 lysistrata
5 cortex
6 phunniemee
7 minifigs
8
9
10
11

I'll wait 15 mins longer to fill it up, else I'll go random. Check your usernames please, people, and let me know if anything's wrong.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:44 PM on March 16

p.s. I'm a shit drawer. But enthusiastic!
posted by mosessis at 4:44 PM on March 16

Im in.
posted by clearly at 4:45 PM on March 16

1 gnfti
2 krrrlson
3 msvader
4 lysistrata
5 cortex
6 phunniemee
7 minifigs
8 mosessis
9 daisyace
10
11

Brainy? (Despite your bad mojo? ;))
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:46 PM on March 16

1 gnfti
2 krrrlson
3 msvader
4 lysistrata
5 cortex
6 phunniemee
7 minifigs
8 mosessis
9 daisyace
10 clearly
11

I'm a shit drawer too. Seriously, pull me open and there's poo everywhere.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:47 PM on March 16

Darth Vader farted
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:48 PM on March 16

IN! I still didn't get to play!
posted by Kimothy at 4:51 PM on March 16

One more! I'll wait five more minutes.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:51 PM on March 16

*pokes gnfi*
posted by Kimothy at 4:53 PM on March 16

I'm in. BPT name is rocksteady.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:54 PM on March 16

I just did a drawing for lysistrata's game. I'm extremely curious.
posted by minifigs at 4:54 PM on March 16

Okay, done. Invited:

krrrlson,msvader,lysistrata,cortex,phunniemee,minifigs,mosessis,daisyace,clearly, kimothy

I now realize I left a space before "kimothy". I hope that doesn't have any negative consequences. If so, sorry, Kimothy.

Remember that 11 rounds is 100 minutes of nominal game time, and duration highly depends on when people respond to their invitation. So this may take a while to complete.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:58 PM on March 16

*weeps for lack of mefi bpt game*

Okay, it's time to do something else. I'm way too invested in this.
posted by Kimothy at 5:00 PM on March 16

(But I'm still here if someone wants to play!)
posted by Kimothy at 5:01 PM on March 16

MsVader really pulled this one back from the brink.
posted by minifigs at 5:04 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

I just submitted text for lysistrata's game.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:04 PM on March 16

[√] gnfti
[ ] krrrlson
[ ] msvader
[ ] lysistrata
[ ] cortex
[ ] phunniemee
[ ] minifigs
[ ] mosessis
[√] daisyace
[ ] clearly
[ ] kimothy

(At least one other person also must have gone, since I got a drawing and did text for it.)
posted by daisyace at 5:19 PM on March 16

[√] gnfti
[ ] krrrlson
[ ] msvader
[ ] lysistrata
[ ] cortex
[ ] phunniemee
[ ] minifigs
[√] mosessis
[√] daisyace
[ ] clearly
[ ] kimothy

Oops, yes, that was me.
posted by mosessis at 5:22 PM on March 16

I am back on again after work so if any new games are started I'm up for it (if there is room)

silkygreenbelly
posted by silkygreenbelly at 5:24 PM on March 16

I just described some clusterfuck in gnfti's one...
posted by clearly at 5:27 PM on March 16

I just drew something for lysistrata's game.
posted by defenestration at 5:28 PM on March 16

I'm here, and ready to play!
posted by chowflap at 5:36 PM on March 16

[√] gnfti
[ ] krrrlson
[ ] msvader
[ ] lysistrata
[ ] cortex
[ ] phunniemee
[√ ] minifigs
[√] mosessis
[√] daisyace
[√ ] clearly
[ ] kimothy

I did a drawing.
posted by minifigs at 5:37 PM on March 16

gnfti wrote on "I love Broken Picture Telephone"'s Wall.

Wait, what?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:38 PM on March 16

Just drew for gnfti's game...
posted by Kimothy at 5:40 PM on March 16

LYSISTRATA'D.
posted by phunniemee at 5:43 PM on March 16

Grrr! Just got an invitation in time for the server kerplooey.
posted by Krrrlson at 5:44 PM on March 16

I just wrote in gnfti's game. And I couldn't say what I wanted to say because there wasn't enough room. That's very frustrating.
posted by MsVader at 5:44 PM on March 16

Awesome, Kimothy! I guess we can conclude that spaces for invitations are optional. Whew.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:44 PM on March 16

...Aaaaand the server MySQL'd out again!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:45 PM on March 16

Could not connect: Can't connect to MySQL server on 'localhost' (10061)

That's, yeah, kinda neat.

I just wrote in gnfti's game. And I couldn't say what I wanted to say because there wasn't enough room. That's very frustrating.

Clearly you need to do some more drilling on Twitter.
posted by cortex at 5:45 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

Oh no, I hope the crash doesn't wipe us out AGAIN!
posted by daisyace at 5:45 PM on March 16

ARG.

I think we're breaking it or something.

They should just solicit donations. We'd totally chip in not to have our drawings disappear into the ether everytime the server dies.
posted by spiderskull at 5:46 PM on March 16

You guys broke the telephone.
posted by chococat at 5:46 PM on March 16

I think they have a PayPal donation button on the front page. (can't check due to SQL error)
posted by burnmp3s at 5:48 PM on March 16

Pre-crash status:
[√] gnfti
[...] krrrlson
[√] msvader
[ ] lysistrata
[ ] cortex
[ ] phunniemee
[√ ] minifigs
[√] mosessis
[√] daisyace
[√] clearly
[√] kimothy
posted by daisyace at 5:48 PM on March 16

The guy who made this has a hit on his hands. If he polishes it up—eraser, paintbucket, more colors, more community features, better (read: consistently functional) invite/private system—this game will find a huge user base.
posted by defenestration at 5:49 PM on March 16 [3 favorites]

Damn! Now I have to do something productive.
posted by lysistrata at 5:50 PM on March 16

Actually, daisyace - I think that list is for lysistrata's game. The game for which I have not played. I played on gnfti's game.
posted by Kimothy at 5:53 PM on March 16

(Also, it's back now.)
posted by Kimothy at 5:55 PM on March 16

OH YEAH PAINTBUCKET PLZ
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:55 PM on March 16

I had also participated in Lysistrata's game.

All hope might not be lost...two games I was drawing in before the crash just showed up in my completed games. The final text frame on one of them didn't load, though, so maybe it was being saved during the crashening?
posted by phunniemee at 6:01 PM on March 16

I think I got bumped out of gnifti's game because of the crash. What was your line, msvader?
posted by Krrrlson at 6:01 PM on March 16

So...
[√] gnfti
[...] krrrlson
[√] msvader
[ ] lysistrata
[ ] cortex
[x] phunniemee
[√ ] minifigs
[√] mosessis
[√] daisyace
[√] clearly
[√] kimothy
posted by phunniemee at 6:02 PM on March 16

I want transparency, and a skin color that isn't bright yellow.
posted by clearly at 6:03 PM on March 16 [2 favorites]

Seems to be working well again. I just got an invitation to the private game and responded to a (quite excellent!) drawing. Game on!
posted by lysistrata at 6:03 PM on March 16

phunniemee and kimothy - hm, I copied the list from the one gnfti posted, not lysistrata, so I think the √'s are incorrectly smushed up.
posted by daisyace at 6:08 PM on March 16

I think that was my game, then? Or were you in any other that's not your own? Krrrlson, why did you think you got bumped out?

gnfti game started midnight UTC / 8 EDT

[?] krrrlson
[√] msvader
[?] lysistrata
[ ] cortex
[ ] phunniemee
[ ] minifigs
[ ] mosessis
[ ] daisyace
[ ] clearly
[√] kimothy
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:09 PM on March 16

Hey folks, he has a Paypal account for donations if you feel as guilty as I do breaking his server -- Paypal donations to [e-mail], or click the donate link on the front page
posted by spiderskull at 6:09 PM on March 16

(directed at lysistrata)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:10 PM on March 16

I just accepted and drew for gnfti game.

If you told me yesterday that I would be drawing today the thing that I just drew, I would have disagreed with you.
posted by cortex at 6:10 PM on March 16 [2 favorites]

SUCCESS!
posted by phunniemee at 6:12 PM on March 16

Wait, I didn't get bumped out! It's done!
posted by Krrrlson at 6:12 PM on March 16

Good good. (*Mr Burns gesture*)

[?] krrrlson
[√] msvader
[?] lysistrata
[√] cortex
[ ] phunniemee
[ ] minifigs
[ ] mosessis
[ ] daisyace
[ ] clearly
[√] kimothy
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:12 PM on March 16

In as chiababe! I laughed til I cried looking at some of the completed games last night. My husband thought I was losing it.
posted by chiababe at 6:13 PM on March 16

[√] YAY
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:13 PM on March 16

When I loaded the link after the crash, it said "game skipped." I reloaded and drew what came up, but there was no way to tell if it was from the correct game, or if it just loaded a random new game (because reloading the join link after drawing still brought up various random games).
posted by Krrrlson at 6:14 PM on March 16

Hooray!
posted by daisyace at 6:14 PM on March 16

You are all considerably better artists than me.
posted by minifigs at 6:15 PM on March 16

Are you using a tablet, cortex?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:16 PM on March 16

Yay! That was awesome! Nice secret service flamingo, cortex....
posted by Kimothy at 6:16 PM on March 16

It's all about tropes, isn't it.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:18 PM on March 16

From quonsar to flamingos. Excellent job everyone!
posted by lysistrata at 6:19 PM on March 16

I feel I'm suffering from having only a mouse to draw with. I am so jealous of all of your drawing skills.
posted by MsVader at 6:20 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

I am totally using a tablet. I got a tiny postcard-sized Wacom Graphire as a birthday gift a few years ago and should use excuses to pull it out more often.

It's really disorienting reverting from Photoshop to this, though—I've gotten used to being able to use pressure to fine-tune a line or switch from details to fills and having that be completely gone is mechanically frustrating, aside from all the other specific featured-ness issues people have brought up about the drawing pad.

Years ago I used to do daily sketching on my old Palm IIIc, and this reminds me a lot of that, especially since my tablet + this drawing app seems to have a bit of alignment weirdness that recreates a horrible tracking bug in my Palm's screen that introduced random +/- 1-3 pixel vertical jagginess about five times a second. I lost all those old sketches in a hard drive crash, but some of the more fine-grained sketchy stuff I've seen people do here is straight out of the same playbook.

If you're feeling splurgy, bottom-of-the-line Wacoms run maybe a hundred bucks or so, and it really is a nice thing to have if you do much photo editing or art stuff.
posted by cortex at 6:30 PM on March 16

If you're feeling splurgy, bottom-of-the-line Wacoms run maybe a hundred bucks or so, and it really is a nice thing to have if you do much photo editing or art stuff play BPT.

FTFY
posted by defenestration at 6:35 PM on March 16

I feel I'm suffering from having only a mouse to draw with. I am so jealous of all of your drawing skills.

Creating a drawing that leaves some room for interpretation makes this game that much more fun!
posted by clearly at 6:36 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

Interesting, thanks cortex.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:38 PM on March 16

Indeed, clearly, or rather:

What is the main objective of this game,

1) Entertainment, crazy fun, surrealism, lulz? or
2) Faithful survival of the starting content for as long as possible?

It's the tension between these two that makes the game all the more satisfying, IMO.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:40 PM on March 16

Just played an invite from silkygreenbelly.
posted by Kimothy at 6:40 PM on March 16

sweet it worked! I invited a bunch of people so I hope it gets finished eventually.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 6:41 PM on March 16

Exactly, gnfti. You nailed it.

Watching an idea move from language to an image to language to an image and so on is pretty damn fascinating.
posted by defenestration at 6:42 PM on March 16

I'm down for some MeFi games. Send your invites this way.
posted by defenestration at 6:45 PM on March 16

The players change but the violence remains.
posted by lysistrata at 6:45 PM on March 16

I'm still up for invites if anyone wants to send one my way. I'm off tomorrow and it's raining out so I'm staying in.

Also, has anyone else noticed that there are a LOT of lobsters in this game?
posted by lysistrata at 6:47 PM on March 16

hurf durf
posted by Krrrlson at 6:49 PM on March 16

Invites, invites! Plz!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:49 PM on March 16

lobsters, crabs, ducks, dinosaurs, aliens, ninjas, ghosts, chickens, bunnies, trees (heh), devils/demons, gods/jesuses, oh my!
posted by defenestration at 6:51 PM on March 16

I just sent one out to the last few commenters.
posted by Krrrlson at 6:54 PM on March 16

Drew my bit for silkygreenbelly's game.
posted by CKmtl at 6:55 PM on March 16

As a tip, maybe especially for those of us stuck on mice and trackpads, I like to google "cartoon XXX" on Google Images for stylized examples of a specific trope. Earlier today I had to draw a cow, and I tried to imagine one, but I kept veering between "mental image of a real cow" and "no way I could draw that". When you think about it, there's hardly a more pure version of a stylized trope (that is to say, a commonly recognized construct condensed to its most salient properties) than its cartoon counterpart. So I googled "cartoon cow" and I thought ohh, you need only that few elements.

Then I had to draw Einstein.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:58 PM on March 16

FTFY

Well, yes, but I figure if people are willing to rationalize it a little they'll be more likely to make the jump.
posted by cortex at 6:59 PM on March 16

hurf durf

What I love about that one is that every single drawn frame breaks the "no text" rule.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:02 PM on March 16

grapefruitmoon, I tried to invite you but my submit keeps spinning and doens't go anywhere. Not sure if it has gone through.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:04 PM on March 16

Well, yes, but I figure if people are willing to rationalize it a little they'll be more likely to make the jump.

Doggone it, Millard. Now you're making me ask the off-topic question I've been trying to suppress. These tablets, they're not any good for audio recording/sequencing, right? I get pretty annoyed with my mouse (doing almost everything in the box) sometimes but I don't want to get a control surface, yet. I've never heard tablets mentioned in this context though.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:05 PM on March 16

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT.

I give up.

Am I the only one getting these error messages: ":: an error occurred: game cannot be saved to."
posted by spiderskull at 7:06 PM on March 16

QUICK! A five-round game, four spots. First come first RAWK.

1 gnfti
2
3
4
5
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:06 PM on March 16

silkygreenbelly
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:07 PM on March 16

me
posted by Krrrlson at 7:08 PM on March 16

clearly is down.
posted by clearly at 7:09 PM on March 16

1 gnfti
2 silkygreenbelly
3 Krrrlson
4 clearly
5

spiderskull, hang in there.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:11 PM on March 16

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:12 PM on March 16

Ooh, return on investment.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:12 PM on March 16

I've never tried using the wacom as a control surface for anything other than visual art stuff. Tehre's no reason they couldn't be good as an audio control surface, but I don't know if it's be natural or weird or somewhere in between. For poke/click type interfaces it might be great; I don't know if it'd be good or bad or what for multitrack editing (I should try, I guess); for like a VST plugin Kaos Pad emulator or something it'd probably be awesome.

Things that are different and weird: you lose the ability to "pick up and move" the pointer reference point with a tablet, the absence of which can be really surprising and is probably the biggest usability adjustment that using these things involves. The mechanical learning curve is mostly (a) learning to hover the pen tip a quarter inch or less over the surface so that it can track the pen without recording a "click", and (b) getting used to not having any pointer acceleration. The tablet surface just maps linearly to the screen (or the portion of the screen you define on the fly, which is a really nice feature).
posted by cortex at 7:13 PM on March 16

Am I the only one getting these error messages: ":: an error occurred: game cannot be saved to."

These happened to me on some drawings I was really proud of... I found that when I close all of the browser windows open to brokenpicturetelephone except the one I am drawing in, it tends to save them as it should.

...hope this helps.
posted by clearly at 7:15 PM on March 16

[√] gnfti
[ ] silkygreenbelly
[ ] Krrrlson
[ ] clearly
[ ] grapefruitmoon
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:16 PM on March 16

Thanks again cortex.

learning to hover the pen tip a quarter inch or less over the surface so that it can track the pen without recording a "click"

Yes this was exactly the experience I had the few times I've used one. I'll try and continue to look for an excuse.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:18 PM on March 16

Well, there are a few Wacoms with a clear plastic overlay on the tablet that lets you put a piece of paper underneath. If you set the tablet dimensions to match screen size and print out a map of your control interface, you could have something useful...
posted by Krrrlson at 7:21 PM on March 16

Man, $35,000/yr to get a BA in studio art and here I am, drawing turds with a trackpad.

I do not feel like I was adequately prepared for this.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:21 PM on March 16 [3 favorites]

What's the best way (or your preferred method) to handle inflammatory descriptions or pictures? Skip, draw/describe something random or other options?
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:21 PM on March 16

You how, when they make newspaper funnies, they draw on A3 (/substitute imperial format that's twice as large as Letter) paper and then scan it and shrink it down to publication size? That would do a lot for us mouse users.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:21 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

That's interesting, Krrrlson.

gfm, it sounds like you got exactly your money's worth. (No more, but definitely no less.)

silkygreenbelly, that depends IMO, how inflammatory are we talking?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:23 PM on March 16

Did a really quick one for Krrrlson's game.
posted by defenestration at 7:25 PM on March 16

I apologise for doing the delmoi multicomment throughout this thread, but: does anyone know, when you hit "edit profile picture", does it erase the previous one? Or load it up and you can edit it?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:25 PM on March 16

AKA I accidentally hit the save button with four minutes left to draw. D'oh. It still works, though, I think.
posted by defenestration at 7:26 PM on March 16

It erases it.
posted by defenestration at 7:26 PM on March 16

tnx
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:27 PM on March 16

I've noticed that if I'm saving a game in one tab going to my email and trying to open a completed game in another tab stops the initial game from saving. Maybe that's a problem for other people?
posted by h00py at 7:28 PM on March 16

I'm up, and ready to join in a game or start a new one! Please send an invite my way!
posted by misha at 7:33 PM on March 16

"dumb black guy with blu shoes pink ears orange nose no arms or legs" I drew the description and realized it looked pretty bad. Admittedly, I probably should have hit Clear All on what I came up with...

one I that I was supposed to describe was clearly picture of a person done in white beating a person done in brown with a baseball bat. And the person done in brown was already dead and hanging from a tree.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:34 PM on March 16

silkygreenbelly: "What's the best way (or your preferred method) to handle inflammatory descriptions or pictures? Skip, draw/describe something random or other options?"

I always skip them. They are a waste of time, and if you have the option, why not?
posted by defenestration at 7:35 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

h00py, I think you might be right about how it stops. I just stop all tab activity while I'm waiting for the save (except when I almost screwed up that metafilter game)
posted by Brainy at 7:35 PM on March 16

They should have a flagging system, forreals. Some people are so proud of their ignorance. Haters.
posted by defenestration at 7:36 PM on March 16

It's surprising (or not so surprising) how often the descriptions become racially specific. I mean, there are only twelve colors to draw with - does a tan stick figure really indicate "Mexican"?
posted by mosessis at 7:38 PM on March 16

Also, I'd be in for another game if someone were to start one.
posted by mosessis at 7:39 PM on March 16

goodnewsfortheinsane: "You how, when they make newspaper funnies, they draw on A3 (/substitute imperial format that's twice as large as Letter) paper and then scan it and shrink it down to publication size? That would do a lot for us mouse users."

Turn down the resolution of your screen. Viola! Larger drawing space!
posted by team lowkey at 7:40 PM on March 16

Gnfti, I've been using that google the cartoon image technique sometimes. (yes, my drawings could be even worse.) Sometimes I know there must be some way of signalling a concept and I just can't visualize. I sort of feel like it's cheating though.

Re fraught images, I've skipped a few, generally when I didn't feel comfortable typing a description. A flagging system would be good.

Cortex, I'd love to see you do some of your patented trend analysis on this thing. (I guess there's no database to tap, though.) I'm very impressed at how many people can draw and recognize Mario, for instance.
posted by yarrow at 7:41 PM on March 16

Can we get a quorum on my game, btw? silkygreenbelly? Krrrlson? clearly?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:44 PM on March 16

I, uh, apologize in advance for what I was just forced to draw in gnifti's game.
posted by Krrrlson at 7:45 PM on March 16

Cheating!? These people have drawing tablets!!

:)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:46 PM on March 16

[√] gnfti
[ ] silkygreenbelly
[√] Krrrlson
[ ] clearly
[ ] grapefruitmoon
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:46 PM on March 16

That was a cat pooping, not a squid fyi.
posted by Krrrlson at 7:51 PM on March 16

Yay
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:52 PM on March 16

Yea! it finished!

Defiantly a squid.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:52 PM on March 16

I love how clearly, while departing from the original message, spelt out "B-A-N-A-N-A-S", when I didn't.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:54 PM on March 16

That was fun. More please?
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:54 PM on March 16

That one is fantastic. Haha.
posted by defenestration at 7:55 PM on March 16

bear market
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:55 PM on March 16

Ah, pooping squid. I think this is definitely the perfect high point at which to end my night.

(I do honestly think that "using" my art degree to illustrate "This shit is bananas" with a TRACKPAD is one of the high points of MY LIFE.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:56 PM on March 16

Here's what worse: I have 2 drawing tablets and I can't find either of them in the post-move disaster area that is every piece of electronica that I have ever owned. And so I'm am forced to bitterly wield my addicted mouse.

I would also suggest that when you see something that is clearly not for the general audience, you flag it at the top of your drawing so the drawing is indicated correctly.
posted by julen at 7:56 PM on March 16

I'll start one. Whoever replies in the next five or ten minutes gets an invite.
posted by mosessis at 7:57 PM on March 16

I'll play another, but I'd like to participate in a MeFi game I didn't start for once.

user: gnfti
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:58 PM on March 16

me me me!
USer: silkygreenbelly
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:59 PM on March 16

(I do honestly think that "using" my art degree to illustrate "This shit is bananas" with a TRACKPAD is one of the high points of MY LIFE.)

Well, why not. I've touched upon this upthread and in the Blue a bit but yeah, I find a lot of things about this game oddly moving. Soon I'll be crying over a crudely drawn Batman, I'm sure. Lord knows I've been close.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:59 PM on March 16

I'm down again!

hopefully I'll get to draw this time!
posted by clearly at 8:01 PM on March 16

Me! user: chiababe
posted by chiababe at 8:02 PM on March 16

me!
posted by lysistrata at 8:02 PM on March 16

I'm in!
posted by julen at 8:02 PM on March 16

Put me in, coach.
posted by otolith at 8:03 PM on March 16

Hmm, my comments aren't showing up. If this gets here in time, put me in.
posted by Krrrlson at 8:06 PM on March 16

Ok, hope I did that right. I have invited:
mosessis, gnfti, silkygreenbelly, clearly, chiababe, lysistrata, julen, otolith, Krrrlson
posted by mosessis at 8:12 PM on March 16

me too!
posted by misha at 8:12 PM on March 16

Oh, shoot! Sorry, misha. Missed you in the transmission.
posted by mosessis at 8:15 PM on March 16

What I just drew for silkygreenbelly is, I believe, called "outsider art".
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:17 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

Just finished a drawing for mosessis's game.
posted by lysistrata at 8:18 PM on March 16

's okay. I haven't gotten an invitation since I started--I may be doing this wrong anyway. Still having fun joining games or strarting them, though.
posted by misha at 8:19 PM on March 16

Tarantino knowledge? Don't count on it.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:20 PM on March 16

so I just submited my description and it seemed okay and then came up with "the game you are playing has been skipped."
posted by silkygreenbelly at 8:23 PM on March 16

I'll be around for a few minutes if anyone wants to invite me to a game. Otherwise I'll just be entering random games.
posted by peep at 8:23 PM on March 16

I felt like that for days, misha. When it started working, though, it worked well. I'm talking quality well. So be patient, as the bard said.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:23 PM on March 16

Okay, I'll do a fiver. If more than that respond in five minutes, I'll go eleven. Ready up!

1 gnfti
2 peep
3
4
5
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:25 PM on March 16

when you start a private game are you supposed to include yourself in the list?
posted by silkygreenbelly at 8:25 PM on March 16

I didn't. Not sure what happens when you do though.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:26 PM on March 16

Raise hand!

Silkygreenbelly
posted by silkygreenbelly at 8:27 PM on March 16

1 gnfti
2 peep
3 silkygreenbelly
4
5

If any of you participants has got a good starting line raise your hand, btw, else I'll be forced to think one up.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:28 PM on March 16

I'm in.
posted by mosessis at 8:29 PM on March 16

LOLcheerleaders
posted by defenestration at 8:30 PM on March 16

I'll let you know what happens when you include yourself on the starting list.
posted by mosessis at 8:30 PM on March 16

defen, you in?

Anyone, any ideas?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:30 PM on March 16

I'm down.
posted by defenestration at 8:31 PM on March 16

Good.

peep,silkygreenbelly,mosessis,defenestration

You four, anyone wanna start?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:32 PM on March 16

I'll start.
posted by defenestration at 8:33 PM on March 16

Awesome, thanks.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:34 PM on March 16

peep,silkygreenbelly,mosessis,gnfti

Game started.
posted by defenestration at 8:35 PM on March 16

I'll start one... Who is in?
posted by clearly at 8:37 PM on March 16

I'm in defensetration... I'll invite you too.
posted by clearly at 8:38 PM on March 16

Clearly I am in.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 8:39 PM on March 16

clearly, I would be in too, if it's a short one.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:40 PM on March 16

I'd be in if I could figure out how to join a specific game.
posted by NikitaNikita at 8:42 PM on March 16

so do I have to do something special to get into the private game? I used my real email but haven't gotten any notification or invite or anything. sorry so dumb.
posted by peep at 8:43 PM on March 16

Nevermind. I'm a bit dense this evening.
posted by NikitaNikita at 8:43 PM on March 16

Snorkling man swims away from the amazing underwater fire.
posted by defenestration at 8:43 PM on March 16

Add me to the list, clearly.

Also, are the tree people from 4chan or something?
posted by chiababe at 8:43 PM on March 16

The story mutates in an interesting way, too.
posted by defenestration at 8:44 PM on March 16

I invited the last 7 or so commenters... I forget exactly who, but all that asked to be included, were.
posted by clearly at 8:45 PM on March 16

Jesus Hoverboard Christ, defenestration, this is just showing off, isn't it. :)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:45 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

OK, it just took a while for the invite to come through.
posted by peep at 8:48 PM on March 16

Oh, that's certainly part of it. Haha.

My drawing habits help with this game. Really, the only drawing I do is doodling during classes. Pen + paper + experimentation = good times. This just makes me think more and forces me to complete something in ten minutes.

After doing all of these drawings, I feel like I want to start a webcomic or something.
posted by defenestration at 8:49 PM on March 16

OH GOD PLEASE DO
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:51 PM on March 16

And I don't normally type in all caps, either.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:52 PM on March 16

My drawing was inexcusably bad. Even for a trackpad.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 8:54 PM on March 16

My crystal ball says I will go offline soon.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:57 PM on March 16

Yeah, the trackpad doesn't really help with the quality of my drawing. But impediment motivates artistry, right?
posted by mosessis at 8:59 PM on March 16

OH GOD PLEASE DO

I certainly appreciate the encouragement. Thank you, gntfi. If I do start one, I'll be sure to post it to Projects.

I remember a while back, someone proposed a weekly MeFi webcomic challenge: someone comes up with the theme or idea and people submit their take on it and there is some judging/voting process. That would be fun—it doesn't even have to be a competition, really. Just seeing what people come up with would make it worth it.
posted by defenestration at 9:04 PM on March 16

Sock with a fatal mutation with the appearance of a man; Or A Clothed lemur reciting emo poetry.
posted by mosessis at 9:05 PM on March 16 [1 favorite]

well, the last couple drawings i did have given me error messages so I think my stars have unaligned themselves. Also, my taco is getting cold and needs me to hurry up and eat him.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 9:07 PM on March 16

Seriously -- that Space Invader made me go wow, here's someone who knows what they're doing. So, make it wholly separate from Metafilter, I'd say.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:11 PM on March 16

Vampires frequent fast foot establishments because they stay open all night.
posted by defenestration at 9:21 PM on March 16

Heh, enough showing off now. I just thought that was a pretty cool one. It was funny and had some interesting coincidences.
posted by defenestration at 9:22 PM on March 16

Feel free, anyone, to invite me in the next couple of hours (as missdanie). The games I started last nite seem to still be floating about in space. Someday, my pretties!
posted by houseofdanie at 9:31 PM on March 16

epyc.metafilter.com
posted by defenestration at 9:44 PM on March 16

An awesome BPT sequence that I stumbled upon.
posted by defenestration at 9:53 PM on March 16

"hard-drinking lemur" -- lololololol
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 10:03 PM on March 16

Aw shoot. I thought mosessis' game would have come around to me by now. Sorry folks, headed to bed now. I'll pick it up bright and early.
posted by otolith at 10:13 PM on March 16

I'm back... but still didn't get minifigs' invite... and the long game I started is still somewhere in the ether. Defenestration, if you do any kind of comic or whatever, plz to memail me since I always forget to check projects.
posted by taz at 10:27 PM on March 16

Man, it looks like the games wherein I masterfully recreated Matisse's Dancers painting and drew a cat with clown makeup eating cocoa puffs each got the hook.

Invites are welcome (ampersand), assuming you all aren't gutsick of the game yet.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:07 PM on March 16

Ha! I drew Matisse's Dancers at one point, and then it failed to save.
posted by Krrrlson at 11:16 PM on March 16

o_0

I'm impressed! I see mostly ninjas, robots, monkeys, spiderman, batman, bananas and poop. :)
posted by taz at 11:20 PM on March 16

I (schkoo) just got and fulfilled an invite from not_on_display. How long ago was that invite sent? That might give us some kind of idea how long this process really takes.
posted by darksasami at 11:21 PM on March 16

Hey, I finally just drew for silkygreenbelly's game. It's been camping in my inbox for a few hours. (I crashed at 9 from exhaustion due to three nights of marathon BPT, but now it looks like I'm awake again. Sleep schedule fail.)
posted by phunniemee at 11:24 PM on March 16

I was hoping to use it with my iPhone and fingerpaint. It doesn't look like I can :(
Open for invites but I won't be checking email for awhile so if you're patient, I'm game.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 12:01 AM on March 17

Here's what I love about this game.

I was just at this absolutely charming new place, run by Israeli brothers with enormous red 'fros, that sells authentic Belgian Liège waffles. They have art from local artists on the walls, which they acquire by means of waffle-barter, play gypsy jazz, and also host a free book exchange.

I was perusing the shelves, and found a collection of optical illusions. Halfway in were some of the great classics, such as the Duck-Rabbit Illusion, the Young Girl-Old Woman Illusion, and the like. Also on the shelves was a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, a book that, among other things, highlights the dangers of phrases with more than one possible interpretation.

This game is a crowdsourced engine designed to manufacture both.
posted by darksasami at 12:21 AM on March 17

Yeah, I'm still waiting for Mosessis's game, too, Otolith. I wish they'd make it easy to join games you've been invited to from the site, as well. When I got my last invitation, I checked to see if I would be notified if I was on the site, and no dice.
posted by julen at 6:52 AM on March 17

The whole concept is worth it just for the phrase "God beats Buddha on head with cane; Buddha cockpunches back".
posted by Rock Steady at 7:12 AM on March 17

I just declined a game started by silkygreenbelly, but only because I got the invite at 3:20 this morning and won't be able to play until after 6 (EST). I don't want to hold up the game! If anyone starts a longer-lasting one, count me in.
posted by chowflap at 7:45 AM on March 17

I'm in as neverusedbs; I've tried placing myself on the wiki, but am apparently utterly clueless as to how to do so.

So far, I'm writing only. I'm too scared to try drawing, especially having seen some of the incredible art this group can produce.
posted by never used baby shoes at 8:17 AM on March 17

One of my games finished!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 8:54 AM on March 17

Awesome, psho. Is jtjin a Mefite? They did a pretty good job.

I liked this one (mental note: eggs SURVIVE).
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:43 AM on March 17

So far, I'm writing only. I'm too scared to try drawing, especially having seen some of the incredible art this group can produce.

I wouldn't be worried about drawing badly. It's the iffy drawings that send the games off in weird directions. Plus, I've found the drawing games to be much more rewarding. You have to be a lot more creative and you do get better as you do more.. I can feel it doing me the world of good. I'm still pissed off that my drawing of hitler, the pope, some ninjas,a klansman, a farmer, pacman and an astronaut didn't save though.
posted by minifigs at 9:44 AM on March 17 [1 favorite]

Heh, ensemble casts *are* awesome.

Also, I just realized something about all the cactuses on BPT: the canvas area is sand-coloured! So a road quickly becomes a desert road, enter cacti, and then there's no stopping them.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:46 AM on March 17

JTJin had an awesome drawing in this one that I was in (second panel), too: Romeo and Juliet as played by a cat and a dog

Don't be afraid to draw! It's fun, and the constraints give you an easy out "Well - sure, that basketball looks like a fried egg; I'm using a mouse, here." If you don't like what you've done, you can always hit the skip button!
posted by julen at 9:53 AM on March 17

OK, I just tried drawing two sad frenchmen flinging feces at each other. At least I didn't have to draw a tree.
posted by never used baby shoes at 10:00 AM on March 17

darksasami: I (schkoo) just got and fulfilled an invite from not_on_display. How long ago was that invite sent? That might give us some kind of idea how long this process really takes.

That was sent yesterday afternoon, probably somewhere around 7PM GMT (3PM Eastern).
posted by not_on_display at 10:47 AM on March 17

Nooooo! Down again.
posted by spiderskull at 12:15 PM on March 17

I'm still waiting for the game I started last night to finish. Yarg.

Well, in the meanwhile, anyone up for a new game? This thread looks a little dead right now, so I'll give it awhile, maybe half an hour or so. Whoever replies is in.
posted by mosessis at 2:57 PM on March 17

It's taken me three days to see the games I've started finish.

Starting a game takes ever so much less investment in time and effort than playing in one. That, I'm sure, is why there are always 3000+ games in progress--most of them must be waiting for their first response, and only a few are likely to be actually in play at any time.
posted by darksasami at 3:03 PM on March 17

I think it takes at least a couple of days for games you start to finish. The more levels, the longer. I still have several games I started that have yet to finish.

Also -- the text part seems to cut off in a most annoying fashion. I started a game with "Behold, the white whale!" and all that showed up was "white whale!" Same with "The postman always rings twice" which became "always rings twice" -- arrgh.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:05 PM on March 17

Quite a few of my games have finished, even some of the metafilter invite only ones. There are a few stragglers, though.

I wonder if there's a timeout - if someone doesn't respond to an invitation within x hours/days, they get kicked out and the invite passes to someone else?

If not, does that mean that one invited non-responder could derail an entire game forever?
posted by mosessis at 3:22 PM on March 17 [1 favorite]

The only invite I got was from misha, and I participated a couple of days ago. I don't think the game has ended yet.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:31 PM on March 17

Well, I'm about to start a short game with some other friends - do you want in, psho?
posted by mosessis at 4:13 PM on March 17

"The postman always rings twice" which became "always rings twice" -- arrgh.

Hey, I was involved in that one. It started well even with the text cut off. Ending was odd though...
posted by Elmore at 4:42 PM on March 17

If not, does that mean that one invited non-responder could derail an entire game forever?

I would be more than happy to start all sorts of games if only I had a list of mefites who signed up, check their email occasionally and are still willing to play. As it stands, I don't want to keep sending out invites for people who are sick of them and/or don't respond (even with an ignore) and missing people who do want to play.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 4:53 PM on March 17

I'm probably going to waste time on this for at least a few more days, so please to add to future invites (Krrrlson).
posted by Krrrlson at 4:58 PM on March 17

I'm probably going to waste time on this for at least a few more days, so please to add to future invites (defenestration).
posted by defenestration at 5:09 PM on March 17

I'm totally up for more games! I've been working the past few days, so my email checking has not been up to the EVERY FIVE MINUTES levels that they are on my days off. It's a short work week for me, so I'm actually around for the rest of time... or rather, until Monday.

Send games! GAMES GAMES GAMES!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:09 PM on March 17

I'm very very very not sick of this yet. Invite hippu!
posted by hippugeek at 5:15 PM on March 17

I'm definitely in, at least for a couple more days. (mosessis)

Random invites welcome, although I do work a 9-5 with seriously blocked internet access, so it might take me more than a few hours to respond occasionally.
posted by mosessis at 5:38 PM on March 17

(minifigs) will always be around
posted by minifigs at 5:57 PM on March 17

Wow, first one that took me all ten minutes. Also, first one that doesn't look A THING like I intended. Drawing with a trackpad is like trying to draw with webbed feet.

I guess it's ok, because no one would have ever interpreted that drawing as what the directions said unless they were telepathic AND on acid.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:04 PM on March 17

I just drew for hippugeek - thanks for the invite!
posted by mosessis at 6:15 PM on March 17

I won't be tired of this any time soon, but my next few days are rather limited internet-wise. Feel free to invite.
posted by Kimothy at 6:22 PM on March 17

Flag and move on!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 7:11 PM on March 17

I've sent a bunch of invites out, but I haven't seen any, or had any come back. I dunno if I'm just doing it wrong, or what.
posted by dejah420 at 7:28 PM on March 17

Still playing. Haven't sent invites out, I'm still waiting to be sure there's a consensus on how that process works. But I'm happy to receive them, of course.
posted by nat at 7:51 PM on March 17

Just checking in to say that, barring my sudden death, I will probably playing this quite frequently over the next thousand years or so, so I'm open for invites.

I also wanted to share this which pleases me greatly.
posted by lysistrata at 8:14 PM on March 17 [1 favorite]

I'm playing still, but my schedule is odd. I've sent out a number of random invites to people on the list with the understanding that it'll take people a little while to get to the drawing/describing. And since you don't get the invitation until it's you random turn in the list...

I'm not holding my breath.

Does anyone understand how the rating system works? I'm trying to figure out why I dipped to -5, but with no artistic ratings. It happened soon after I accidentally hit save instead of clear last line and sent in a picture that was 1/2 of the description (did you hear my loud "Nooooooo!!!!" and a short series of expletives bouncing around the east coast?) so I thought it might be something related to that series, but I can't figure out how I got dinged. I don't mind it (look, I'm minorly bad!), but it's bugging me that I don't know how it works.
posted by julen at 8:33 PM on March 17 [1 favorite]

That is a great one, lysistrata.

John Wilkes Booth was a praying mantis!

Haha
posted by defenestration at 8:34 PM on March 17

I'm having trouble figuring it out, too. It looks to me like you can only rate the entire story line. Can you rate just one picture?

I've figured out how to flag a player as "abusive" (scroll down a bit - nsfw?), but I'd much rather "favorite" individual panels.
posted by mosessis at 8:39 PM on March 17

If you click on a user's profile, there's an option to rate them near the top. I don't think there's any way to rate individual panels though.
posted by lysistrata at 8:56 PM on March 17

Engine trouble.

nice, guys! :)
posted by hippugeek at 9:03 PM on March 17

I will start a random assortment of games featuring

silkygreenbelly,Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu

so hopefully everyone will be occasionally getting an invite even if someone isn't able to check their email.

If you want me to add you to the list just post (make sure you post your broken picture user name).

And if anyone else wants to start games, I will no doubt be addicted to this for awhile when I get the random spurts of internet use.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 9:05 PM on March 17

I'd like to play! lysistrata.
posted by lysistrata at 9:05 PM on March 17

lysistrata, I thought I had added you to the list. Whoops.
silkygreenbelly,Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu, lysistrata

I can't get it to load (another crash?) but as soon as I can I will start some games.

On Preview: I think it might be adding an extra person to get 11 players so hopefully we won't get goatse'd
posted by silkygreenbelly at 9:19 PM on March 17

I also started a game with those names.
posted by Krrrlson at 9:25 PM on March 17

Woo!!! I got two invitations overnight (my night, here in the Europe)!! I finally got minifigs' and I got one from julen - so those two games are still in play. However, I'm not able to get into the site at the moment.
posted by taz at 9:37 PM on March 17

Yeah, it's being very slow and I haven't had any completed game notifications for a while. Nothing an MSSQL crash won't fix.
posted by Krrrlson at 9:40 PM on March 17

Put me in! I promise to respond to any and all invitations, even if I have to draw weird things with my trusty trackpad. I'm missdanie.
posted by houseofdanie at 9:53 PM on March 17

missdanie, I'm glad you trackpad is trusty... mine is unreliable, every time I tell it to draw something recognizable it just produces squiggles :(
I'll send a couple more with taz and missdanie added and then i need to go to bed. After spending all of Sunday and Monday nights on this I swore I wasn't going to get sucked in again... (it's a good thing I can't access the internet at work.)

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu, lysistrata,taz,missdanie
posted by silkygreenbelly at 10:18 PM on March 17

"current updated mefite list, I think:

...hooperfan"

This is why I never got an invite! It's HOPPERFan. Like Edward Hopper. Or Grace Hopper.

[sad]
posted by HopperFan at 10:25 PM on March 17

Okay! I was able to get in and do those two! My text finished minifigs' game, and julen's should have gone on to the next in line. Whee!
posted by taz at 10:27 PM on March 17

Aaargh! Broken again.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 10:45 PM on March 17

I just got two at the same time - both silkygreenbelly specials, and both have been moved onto the next in line. A third that rolled in hit the dreaded MySQL failure when I went to save. That one, I can assure you all, is a (now lost) masterpiece, up there with the Amber Room and the the copy of the The Scream that was stolen last summer.
posted by julen at 10:46 PM on March 17

Eep, I got an invite from silkygreenbelly and got MySQL failure upon saving my work of art. I don't know if it'll count it as a skip or let me try it again. If I ruined the game, I'm sorry!
posted by houseofdanie at 11:01 PM on March 17

Since it didn't go through, I'd try to click on the link again when the SQL server comes up. That's what I'm planning on doing... Because the server was down, it should have no record of any action taken. At the very worst, it won't work. At best, it will.
posted by julen at 11:23 PM on March 17

It's back. For the piece I couldn't save due to SQL destruction, I clicked on the link in the email to join, and it brought me back to the drawing screen, where I redrew it, and successfully saved.
posted by julen at 12:28 AM on March 18

Success! I clicked on the invitation link and got the same prompt to draw that I had before. Excellent.
posted by houseofdanie at 12:32 AM on March 18

This was my crowning artistic achievement until some jerk ruined it with Hitler.
posted by Krrrlson at 12:56 AM on March 18

Could I get added to the always available list please?
posted by minifigs at 1:28 AM on March 18

I'll also be playing this game for the next few days.
posted by burnmp3s at 4:02 AM on March 18

I think another site has found it. I've gotten ten completed games back in the last half hour.
posted by minifigs at 5:17 AM on March 18

Just woke up and drew for three invites in my mailbox, so hopefully some other people will get the notice soon.
posted by mosessis at 5:20 AM on March 18

Krrrlson, there seem to be more jerks in the last day or so, who will draw or say something completely unrelated to the game at hand. If you have something original to say, start your own game! damn kids, traipsing all over my nice lawn...

I'm enjoying the private(ish) games much more. Better art & descriptions, less jerk moves. So thank you to the folks who have started games recently! When I get home from work, I'll start a few with whatever the going list is.
posted by mosessis at 5:26 AM on March 18

Add me to any invite list also please! I'm hoopy on there. My mouse is crap and my drawings are haphazard but I avoid racist shit and I have a sick (but hopefully not sickening) sense of humour (also I'm in Australia but I do reply to all invitations and I'm completely hooked).
posted by h00py at 6:47 AM on March 18

Wow, someone recognized both a spaceship AND antlers! Whoohoo!

I got a bunch of invites in my mailbox. I'm heading out for an appointment, so they'll be getting some love around 1PM Eastern Whatever Time. (Is this Daylight or Standard time? I can never keep track.) After that, I'm around for the rest of the day! Whoo!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:03 AM on March 18

Updated list I will be pulling from this afternoon provided the site is working.

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu, lysistrata,taz,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:11 AM on March 18

Please add me to the anytime list. (msvader)

Seems we can do nothing right now - damn you MySQL...
posted by MsVader at 7:44 AM on March 18

I should be around most of the day, and am up for joining (neverusedbs).
posted by never used baby shoes at 8:10 AM on March 18

I'll be around-ish most of the day, and I've got plenty of time to kill.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:12 AM on March 18

add me to the new list, name afu
posted by afu at 8:39 AM on March 18

Please add me to any invite lists, I'm misha there as well. I have BPT down right now, but I was on just a little while ago and it was fine, so hopefully the lapse is temporary.

I should probably donate considering all the time I've spent on that site.
posted by misha at 9:22 AM on March 18

Me too please, thinkpiece.
posted by thinkpiece at 9:27 AM on March 18

ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME!!!

Me too, please, once it's back up. Slow week at work + addictive personality.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:53 AM on March 18

updated anytime list

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu, lysistrata,taz,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece
posted by minifigs at 9:53 AM on March 18

updated anytime list

+mudpuppie

And it's back!
posted by mudpuppie at 9:57 AM on March 18

Oh, what the hell. Put me on the anytime list.

I'm sure db/load issues are his main concern right now, but I kind of want to sit down with the dude and talk through griefing/moderation workflow and such, see what he's thinking about on that front.

One thing I'd like to see is letting games be branched at abusive breakpoints instead of nixing them—if someone injects a non-sequitur to be an ass, ban the ass but take the non-sequitur and its children and instance them as a new game starting from that point, and put the old game back into play at the previous panel.
posted by cortex at 10:07 AM on March 18 [3 favorites]

With the exception of the tree dude, the non sequiturs are so predictable: Penises, fart jokes, Hitler and Klansmen. Ha ha lol boys are stupid.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:11 AM on March 18

It would be hard to moderate every game without it taking way too long. It might work if they had a troll rating (separate from a mere shitty artist rating) that would give an auto ban if it got to low.
posted by afu at 10:31 AM on March 18 [1 favorite]

In the 'anytime' list above, 'taz' should be 'tazzle.' So:

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu, lysistrata,tazle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex
posted by mudpuppie at 10:31 AM on March 18

There's an "abuse" flag you can use to report problem users—I've used it a few times so far—but how that's being handled on the far end so far is not clear. I am glad to see that Alishahu's been addressing the griefer stuff on his BTP blog already, and there is some sort of "this will help with griefing" thing in the works according too. As of Sunday:

Also, I didn't state it explicitly: But expect an update *very* soon that will change the flow of games only slightly, but will drastically decrease how susceptible the game is to trolls.

He's also talking about recruiting help to admin the site, so it looks like he's taking this stuff seriously. I'm curious to see what happens. As much as it's frustrating to see people taking a shit on the site right now, better that it be fixed right than fixed quickly; this'll all be a bad memory a month from now if things get figured out.
posted by cortex at 10:46 AM on March 18

I kind of want to sit down with the dude and talk through griefing/moderation workflow and such, see what he's thinking about on that front.

Yeah, that is kind of ruining it for me right now. My theory: send every drawing/description done by a flagged user (and some random percentage of all drawings/descriptions) to a random "Observer" -- people who have been in more than 20 games or something. Observers see the flagged user's contribution and the contribution that preceded it, and they are asked, "Is this OK?" If yes, fine, if no then the contribution gets thrown out and the game is sent to someone else.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:47 AM on March 18

OK, I just started a game, using the updated anytime list. Let's see what happens.
posted by never used baby shoes at 11:24 AM on March 18

In the 'anytime' list above, 'taz' should be 'tazzle.'

Changed tazle to tazzle and added myself.

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu, lysistrata,tazle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex, elmore
posted by Elmore at 11:36 AM on March 18

Oh bloody hell...

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu, lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore
posted by Elmore at 11:37 AM on March 18

One thing that's really bugging me (besides the random penii) is when a stick figure drawn with the black pencil is called a black guy. IT'S JUST A DEFAULT STICK FIGURE DRAWING COLOUR MORANS!
posted by minifigs at 11:46 AM on March 18 [3 favorites]

I put in my bit for a few games, some said they "couldn't be saved." I don't remember which games they were, but I think at least one of them was a pretty sweet drawing that shall now be lost to the ethers forever. The other drawings may have sucked.

(Yeah hi, I can't remember anything. I went to the neurologist about my memory problems and accidentally went to THE WRONG HOSPITAL.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:47 AM on March 18

Finally got in! Working username is metroidbaby1 because I am unimaginative.
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:52 AM on March 18

With the exception of the tree dude, the non sequiturs are so predictable: Penises, fart jokes, Hitler and Klansmen. Ha ha lol boys are stupid.

My first thought when I heard about the site was "I bet a lot of guys will draw dicks on there." I wrote an animation shareware app for PDAs in college that had a pretty similar interface, and about half of the guys I showed it to used it to draw dicks. I'm not quite sure what the appeal is.

Also, one of the more annoying things people do is draw some form of "lol wut" in response to a goofy description. Instead of completely derailing the game, they could at least attempt to draw something from the description or just skip it. Although one guy's sarcastic description to one of those did result in me doing my personal favorite drawing.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:17 PM on March 18

Adding myself to the anytime list:

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee
posted by phunniemee at 12:33 PM on March 18

I'm conflicted by this game. I'm not a very good drawer, I'm colour blind, and I have a tendency to be very lazy - so sometimes I do scrappy doodles which I feel can kind of ruin some of the games (though I am amazed at the ability of some people to decipher my scribbles). Also, I can be a bit dumb at times and totally miss the point (sorry about the dogs/droogs thing gnfti). Then again, the idea itself, and the use of the post-it note canvas makes it very disposable, that plus the mix of talent means anyone should be able to plod along and not worry too much about it - which I think is great.

The trolls can be a bit annoying, though it is great to see how some people work around it and even a massive troll effort to derail can end up with a great sequence.

I am curious about the inner workings. I have selected 'write only' a few times and often get 'there are no games available to you' messages, which seems unlikely when there are 1000+ active games. Also the public games I play seem to have pretty much the same group of users - while many of the mefi members never appear (I know time zones play some part, but not so much in a game that takes three days to finish) yet the same people reappear over and over. The number of times Bunnytricks has been the person to follow me seems more than coincidental.

I've embraced the skip button even if it gives that ominous message that makes it sound like you have killed the game. How many more times can I face into "Ali Baba and Jesus fight the Dalai Lama and the devil over a peanut while Hitler looks on"? Actually, I'd give that one a bash...

Also there should be rating points for wordsmiths as well as artists and something like a one to five point rating for individual panels would be better than clicking into a users profile.

OK, I think that's everything. I'm off to follow up "Cat climbing drain pipe" with a picture of a penis. Hurr hurr hurr.
posted by Elmore at 12:53 PM on March 18

I actually enjoy the less-than-artistic drawings, because they can send the game in an entirely different direction.

And I really appreciated the person who, when presented with an image of a lynching, typed in "Two kittens playing on the grass in the sunshine."
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 1:02 PM on March 18 [2 favorites]

I managed to hit 3 descriptions in a row last night involving raping people or things. I'm also sorely tempted to draw a picture of happy rodents every time Hitler comes up. And is it just me, or does the Pepsi logo show up frequently for you guys?
posted by julen at 1:13 PM on March 18

Hitler yes, Pepsi logo no. Did get ceiling cat yesterday though - that was a nice change.
posted by Elmore at 1:15 PM on March 18

I often feel that I sully a game with my poor, poor art as well. I did write-only for about an hour, then ran out of games, so I'm back to drawing shitty images. I skip over the ones that are simply no-gos, just to do everyone a favor.

The penis thing -- it confuses me too. I mean, on the one hand, there's this unspoken assumption among a certain subset of men that the penis is the greatest thing ever. And then there's *this* group who go "Ooh, I'm going to shock you with this most shocking of things -- the penis!" And I think they're probably the same groups of people.

Eh, whatever. Another reason that I'm glad I don't have one.

(Sure am sick of looking at cartoon drawings of them, though.)
posted by mudpuppie at 1:18 PM on March 18 [1 favorite]

I've seen a handful of penises (!!), but what bothers me most, I think, is that anything--anything!--even vaguely brown or poop-like is immediately labeled as "poo," and any person or animal with another object behind it is assumed to be "pooping" that object. Fuck your poop fantasties. Sometimes things are behind or below other things!
posted by uncleozzy at 1:20 PM on March 18

does the Pepsi logo show up frequently for you guys

I've seen it a couple times as a morph of the Obama logo, but other ones like this one just used it on purpose to represent Pepsi.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:36 PM on March 18

I JUST SPENT 6:32 DRAWING A CAVEMAN DISCOVERING A TV MADE OF WOOD AND MEANT TO HIT "CLEAR LINE" BUT ACCIDENTALLY HIT "CLEAR ALL" AND NOW I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF.
posted by mudpuppie at 1:58 PM on March 18 [5 favorites]

julen, I just responded to an invite from you. Thank goodness it was something I could take a stab at drawing - although I think any trolls out there could have a field day with what I just did.
posted by never used baby shoes at 2:07 PM on March 18

I JUST SPENT 6:32 DRAWING A CAVEMAN DISCOVERING A TV MADE OF WOOD AND MEANT TO HIT "CLEAR LINE" BUT ACCIDENTALLY HIT "CLEAR ALL" AND NOW I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF.

My kingdom for an undo button.
posted by phunniemee at 2:08 PM on March 18

Or just a prompt, really. "Are you sure you want to start over?"
posted by cortex at 2:18 PM on March 18

OR SOMETHING.

I was really proud of that caveman.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:29 PM on March 18

Adding myself to the anytime list:

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee,schyler523
posted by schyler523 at 2:41 PM on March 18

I've accidentally cleared all after working on a drawing for 9+ minutes. Sucks. I've also accidentally submitted unfinished drawings a couple of times. The placement of those small, similar buttons is annoying.

I completed a couple of invites this morning, but, really, my input was sub-par. It's like the later I stay up, the better my doodles become. Heh.

[a certain plant makes BPT more fun, too, but I totally didn't say that.]
posted by defenestration at 3:01 PM on March 18 [2 favorites]

I just got my first invite from you guys. Yay! Took my time trying to draw a nice pic--and got the "game has been skipped" notice. Boo.
posted by misha at 3:18 PM on March 18

Ack! Ack! I have four invitations waiting. Sorry for holding things up--I'll get on that chop-chop.

In addition to penises and poop, I'm getting tired of "tranny har har har." Yeesh, people, I'm sorry if she has broad shoulders and a prominent jaw, I drew in her in six minutes with a sticky mouse.
posted by hippugeek at 3:24 PM on March 18 [1 favorite]

Have we established whether the site runs through invitation lists in the stated order? If it does, it'd be keen if there was an easy way to generate a randomized list of Always Availables somehow.
posted by cortex at 3:28 PM on March 18

If it does, it'd be keen if there was an easy way to generate a randomized list of Always Availables somehow.

For the couple I've sent out, I just put them in Excel and sorted with abandon.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:34 PM on March 18

If memory serves, it's served randomly.
posted by Elmore at 3:35 PM on March 18

You would think that the odds of drawing vs. writing would be 50/50... so WHY DO I ALWAYS EFFIN HAVE TO DRAW? I like drawing, and I'm getting a hell of a lot better at a sort of doodle-shorthand (not that with any of my prompts is it going to lead to anything less than hilarity), but SRSLY GAME, I would like to write once in a while.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:04 PM on March 18

I added my own name to the list. (btw, thanks for the invite krrrlson).

'taz' should be 'tazzle.'
I kinda sent out a whole bunch of invites using "taz" so hopefully I didn't sabotage all those.

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee,schyler523,silkygreenbelly
posted by silkygreenbelly at 4:06 PM on March 18

grapfruitmoon, it seems there are a number of people who feel they can't draw and so they change their profile to "write-only".
posted by silkygreenbelly at 4:07 PM on March 18

Elmore: "If memory serves, it's served randomly."

I enjoy that sentence out of context.
posted by defenestration at 4:08 PM on March 18 [1 favorite]

Them write-only folk are landing ME with all the drawing! Well, I guess you guys are stuck with my crappy drawings to describe. Hope you're happy!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:16 PM on March 18

You only get to write-only for a little while. Then it tells you you can't play anymore. But you really can play if you go back to drawing.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:17 PM on March 18

Ha! One that just showed up finished goes from "Pretty female Walmart employee getting hit on by customers" to "A blonde woman and a bald man fighting over a basket."

Just like what happens in a REAL Walmart.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:22 PM on March 18

silkygreenbelly has it: there's a natural inclination toward scarcity here. People decide they can't or won't draw, and so they go "always write" in their settings and hoover up the backlog of open-game write-ery.

The worst part is, even if you had equal numbers of "always draw" and "always write" people (and maybe there are! I wonder if Alishah would dish on that...), it'd still lead to a dearth of writing turns and a backlog of drawing turns—since drawing takes about an order of magnitude longer than writing, you'd need 10 dedicated always-draw people putting in a time-unit of work to balance out the effects of a single always-write person putting in the same time-unit of work.

I bet there aren't that many always-draw people out there, but effectively the always-write people make every omnivore into more of an always-draw person than they'd expect. It takes a writer ~6 minutes to create an hours worth of drawing backlog.

But even without any of that asymmetry going on (and in private games, assuming there aren't many always-write people in here, there shouldn't be), you'd still spend ten minutes drawing for every minute you spend writing, so the subjective sense of Always Being Drawing is probably pretty strong (and effectively true) regardless.

Basically, learn to love drawing and accept that writing is the tiniest of sparkly distractions along the path.

And, ooh, invite arrived!
posted by cortex at 4:22 PM on March 18

I just drew for a game hippu started, but I sooo ran out of time. Not good.

I'm very sporadically available over the next few days - so I'm happy to be invited to games, but it may take me a while to get to them.
posted by yarrow at 4:43 PM on March 18

I finally had a game that I started finish!! Not particularly exciting, although I am on the edge of my seat to know if he falls off into the green ocean.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 5:01 PM on March 18

I just had a slew of invites arrive all at once.
posted by lysistrata at 5:03 PM on March 18

I had a bunch sitting in my inbox after being away at work all day. I'm working on them, though, so they should be going out to you all.

If I forget an invite, or accidentally skip one while I'm going through them, is there some kind of reminder that will come to me? Or will I kill the game forever?!? Will I hurt anything if I click on an invite that I've already completed?
posted by mosessis at 5:05 PM on March 18

Just completed 2 invites from silkygreenbelly, 1 from julen, and 1 from minifigs.
posted by Krrrlson at 5:15 PM on March 18

Will I hurt anything if I click on an invite that I've already completed?

It will just dump you into a random game, if my experience is anything to go by. But you won't know if it's a random game or the actual invite.
posted by Krrrlson at 5:16 PM on March 18

Hmm. That's less than ideal. Any way to know if I have outstanding invites to play, then?
posted by mosessis at 5:25 PM on March 18

Not that I know of... I suppose you could play a game for each of your past invites, and then you'll know for sure :)
posted by Krrrlson at 5:53 PM on March 18

I added myself to this anytime list: also, I'll prepend the current number of users in the list so you don't have to count them every time.

[Number of users; increment if you add yourself:]28
Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee,schyler523,silkygreenbelly,Anything
posted by Anything at 6:32 PM on March 18

I just sent an invite to the entire anytime list plus a few people from the bottom of the wiki page. I hope it finishes some day :)
posted by Anything at 6:39 PM on March 18

I just got your invite and drew something.
posted by Krrrlson at 6:59 PM on March 18

There is a facebook page where you can request features and report bugs and Alishah does seem to check it.

Also, next meetup I go to I am bringing a stack of post-it notes and some pens.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 7:01 PM on March 18 [1 favorite]

Adding myself to the anytime users:

[Number of users; increment if you add yourself:]29
Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee,schyler523,silkygreenbelly,Anything,chiababe
posted by chiababe at 7:45 PM on March 18

From "Of course, blue is the new black" to "Fetus eater waits outside the clinic in hopes of some dark meat" without any obvious non-sequiturs.
posted by Anything at 7:52 PM on March 18 [1 favorite]

Man, I took part in quite a few games without seeing any get finished for a long time. But now they're starting to pop up. It's like planting seeds!
posted by Anything at 7:58 PM on March 18

BTW does the web page notify you of getting invited or only the e-mail?
posted by Anything at 8:10 PM on March 18

Man, I took part in quite a few games without seeing any get finished for a long time. But now they're starting to pop up.

I just came in to complain that I've been playing all damn day and have only gotten a couple notifications, and none since early afternoon. I was hoping it was broken.

And I think it's just the email, not web, that notifies you.
posted by mudpuppie at 8:22 PM on March 18

Any chance you've missed some? Do you check the My previous games page?
posted by Anything at 8:30 PM on March 18

Anyone else notice the trend towards devils? (link nsfw)
posted by silkygreenbelly at 8:43 PM on March 18

Yes, sadly, I've checked that. *shakes fist*
posted by mudpuppie at 8:44 PM on March 18

I've seen the trend towards LASER vision. Go figure.
posted by Anything at 8:45 PM on March 18

Holy crap, I just got four more finished ones.

I'd say life is unfair, but I think it's my karmic reward for getting sneezed at in the face by a stranger in a movie theater a few hours ago.

Say, mudpuppie, you didn't happen to see Watchmen in Helsinki tonight, did you?
posted by Anything at 8:50 PM on March 18

The squid trend seems to be ebbing, thank god. It's hard to draw a non-phallic squid. (Or any squid, actually.)
posted by mudpuppie at 8:50 PM on March 18

Here's a hint for anyone doing drawings: It's a LOT easier if you begin by painting the whole area white (or other preferred background color). That way you can use white (or other) as an "eraser".
posted by Anything at 8:55 PM on March 18 [5 favorites]

LASER vision: Exhibit A, Exhibit B.
posted by Anything at 9:08 PM on March 18

Gah. Just got home after a four concert tour, and found nine mefi invites!

Sorry I held up the games. I'll get right on it! I've been up 18 hours already, what's a couple more for the sake of art, right?
posted by Kimothy at 9:11 PM on March 18

Just finished some invites, all my games had Santa in them today...
posted by afu at 9:11 PM on March 18

Here's a hint for anyone doing drawings: It's a LOT easier if you begin by painting the whole area white (or other preferred background color). That way you can use white (or other) as an "eraser".

Oh SHIT.
posted by cortex at 10:32 PM on March 18

Could not connect: Can't connect to CRAPPYDAMNBASTARDINEEDMORE server on 'localhost' (10061)
posted by Rock Steady at 4:24 AM on March 19

It's been like that for at least four hours now.
posted by Elmore at 4:26 AM on March 19

Yeah, I have two invites to respond to, but the site is down! AAAAAHHHHHH! Must draw!
posted by never used baby shoes at 7:50 AM on March 19

It's been like that for at least [eight?] hours now.

Well, maybe that would explain why I STILL DON'T HAVE ANY FINISHED GAME NOTIFICATIONS OR INVITES!!!
posted by mudpuppie at 8:09 AM on March 19

It's back!
posted by mudpuppie at 8:44 AM on March 19

I started a mefi game three days ago that hasn't finished... or else it ran into trouble. I can't sleep thinking how it might be lying bleeding in a ditch somewhere.
posted by taz at 9:50 AM on March 19

Has anyone besides Krrrlson taken part yet in my 31-player invitation game?
posted by Anything at 9:55 AM on March 19

I've only had invites for two -- missdanie, and silkygreenbelly (which finished yesterday).
posted by mudpuppie at 9:58 AM on March 19

By the way, since I haven't received any invitations, could someone tell me how exactly does the site inform you about the invitation? Does it only tell you once it's your turn, or does everyone know they're invited right away? If it only tells you once you're on, does it tell you who started the game. What about information on who else are participating?
posted by Anything at 9:59 AM on March 19

Here's a hint for anyone doing drawings: It's a LOT easier if you begin by painting the whole area white (or other preferred background color). That way you can use white (or other) as an "eraser".

Yeah, I figured this out after trying to meticulously color around a dragon. "Huh, maybe this would have been easier had I done the background FIRST." This is just totally counter my MO when drawing on paper, so it took me a while.

I'm just going to re-iterate that art school SO did not prepare me for this. "Professor! Why do we have to do more blind contour drawings?" "Because, someday you are going to be playing drawing games on the internet and all you will have are your wits and a trackpad. NOW DRAW, LITTLE MONKEYS."
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:06 AM on March 19

You should be on my game, mudpuppie, unless it's borken somehow. However, even if it works, I don't know whether you're supposed to have received an invitation or not, since I don't know when and what information is sent.
posted by Anything at 10:08 AM on March 19

By the way, since I haven't received any invitations, could someone tell me how exactly does the site inform you about the invitation? Does it only tell you once it's your turn, or does everyone know they're invited right away? If it only tells you once you're on, does it tell you who started the game. What about information on who else are participating?

Yeah, you only get the invite once it's your turn. The email comes from BPT, but in the text of it it tells you who sent the invite. You don't get any info on who else is playing.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:12 AM on March 19

The subject line of the email will say: BrokenPictureTelephone - Private Game Invitation

Then the body text will say: Hello, Username has invited you to participate in a private game at BrokenPictureTelephone.com! To participate, go to [url]

When you click through, you'll find either the drawing to write text about, or text to draw. You won't know where in line you are.
posted by taz at 10:21 AM on March 19

Okay, they REALLY need to do something about that Clear All button. My giant light bulb monster attacking the Rocky Mountains was a work of art, and now it's gone. (Like the Rocky Mountains would have been, if it weren't for that damn button.)
posted by mudpuppie at 10:55 AM on March 19

Ok, I just moved in three different games. I pity whoever has to work with the drawings I did.

Has anyone seen a game from me? Like taz, I'm worried mine is lying in a ditch somewhere.
posted by never used baby shoes at 10:58 AM on March 19

Here's a hint for anyone doing drawings: It's a LOT easier if you begin by painting the whole area white (or other preferred background color). That way you can use white (or other) as an "eraser".

I was going to do this in the next drawing I had. It, of course, involved snow.
posted by never used baby shoes at 11:02 AM on March 19 [1 favorite]

None of my mefi games have finished yet. I made some big, some small. I think of this exercise as teaching me patience. That and looking at ways to test out my collection of mouses.
posted by julen at 11:04 AM on March 19

I wonder, does the site verify that you are the true invitee to a private game, or can anyone who knows the link just click on it and take the next turn?
posted by Krrrlson at 11:07 AM on March 19

Interesting point. We could try a tiny invite game to test it out. Get the invite out, first person to receive it hits someone else up with the link and that person gives it a click instead?
posted by cortex at 11:13 AM on March 19

Heck, I just got an invite from misha, so let's run with it. Here's the link:

http://www.BrokenPictureTelephone.com/join?id=12048

Somebody else give that a go and report back.
posted by cortex at 11:17 AM on March 19

It seemed to work for me.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:21 AM on March 19

Hmm, I clicked the link again just to see what it would do, and it gave me a text to draw that didn't seem to have anything in common with the image I described a minute ago.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:24 AM on March 19

I also clicked on it and drew something, but I guess there's no way to verify if it was for the right game. cortex should also click on it in case it is waiting for him. If it turns out I drew for some random different game, then I will report when it completes.
posted by Krrrlson at 11:27 AM on March 19

I just got one from Misha too (and finished it), at 11:22. Game id is 12054, though.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:33 AM on March 19

Hmm. So I thought I finished 12054, but then noticed that the screen said it couldn't save. I hit 'back,' got the same Post-it and a blank one to draw/write on, clicked 'forward,' and it told me that the game was skipped. I have no idea if my drawing registered or if it thinks I skipped the game. I don't want to draw it again because it was hard enough the first time.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:39 AM on March 19

I clicked and drew something that involved dark clothing and the supernatural.

I clicked again and did my best not to faithful describe what was probably supposed to be donut bukakke.

I guess we'll just have to check in on 12048 when it's done and see what we recognize.
posted by cortex at 11:42 AM on March 19

I see that "skipped" message all the time (not necessarily every time... I don't know - I just see it a lot), and I have no idea what it means.
posted by taz at 11:42 AM on March 19

This is the game (ID# 7135) cortex's link sent me to.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:44 AM on March 19

Redrew it quick and dirty. Will see if a drawing shows up, and which one. Didn't seem to have trouble saving this time.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:44 AM on March 19

Heh. I de-Hitlered this one. Is that bad?
posted by mudpuppie at 11:46 AM on March 19

Yeah, my policy has been to cleanse Hitler, the KKK, and unfunny penises (hilarious penises still okay).
posted by Krrrlson at 11:53 AM on March 19

I see the skipped game message after I skip a game or if I get too impatient and click twice on the Join Game link
posted by julen at 11:58 AM on March 19

I have an invite from miniflags in my inbox but I'm at work and can't access the site. Knowing that it is there, waiting for ME is driving me nuts!
posted by silkygreenbelly at 12:01 PM on March 19

My mousing arm's all cramped up from this.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:18 PM on March 19

So my second result from clicking the 12048 invite above was for game 7055, which has some wonderful metacommentary around the fourth row. Hugoinabox's shocked artist Santa kills me.
posted by cortex at 12:30 PM on March 19

All that one needs is Hitler! It's got poo, farts, and penii.
posted by mudpuppie at 1:15 PM on March 19

You didn't look closely enough; lupusgene mentions "swastika" in the next-to-the-last-row. It's an Eat Poop Bingo!
posted by taz at 2:10 PM on March 19

Oh, you're right. Guess I missed it whatwithallthelettersrunningtogetherandeverything.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:18 PM on March 19

The Billy Keane part is the best.

I answered an invite form either julen or missdanie earlier but it turns out that it sent me to here instead. Has this happened to anyone else?
posted by minifigs at 2:21 PM on March 19

See cortex's comment, a few clicks up.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:24 PM on March 19

I can now confirm that clicking on cortex's link sent me to game 7147. I guess private invites are enforced after all.
posted by Krrrlson at 2:24 PM on March 19

I've sent a couple invites today. Anyone get one?
posted by mudpuppie at 2:28 PM on March 19

game 7147

My god. The poo! The poo!
posted by mudpuppie at 2:29 PM on March 19

I've sent a couple invites today. Anyone get one?

Yep. Just did it now. If what I just drew was what you originally wrote then...I....
posted by minifigs at 2:37 PM on March 19

A swastika pooing?
posted by mudpuppie at 2:38 PM on March 19

Every game should start with a pooping Hitler brandishing his erection at a black Jewish squid shooting laser vision from a tree.
posted by Krrrlson at 2:42 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

I now know for a fact that skipping a panel doesn't kill a game -- one I skipped just turned up as a finished game. Now I will skip as much as I want!
posted by mudpuppie at 3:04 PM on March 19

I am late to the game and would like to be in the game. Can someone invite me to something at some point? Standard username.
posted by jessamyn at 3:09 PM on March 19

mudpuppie - I just responded to one from you. I think I missed the point of whatever the drawing was.
posted by never used baby shoes at 3:16 PM on March 19

I am late to the game and would like to be in the game. Can someone invite me to something at some point? Standard username.

That makes it 30:
Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee,schyler523,silkygreenbelly,Anything,chiababe,jessamyn

Invite sent!

I think I missed the point of whatever the drawing was.

Well, that is very definitely not my fault!
posted by mudpuppie at 3:19 PM on March 19

None of the games I started ever finished, just started 3 smaller ones by splitting that list in 3.
posted by Krrrlson at 3:30 PM on March 19

I've been away from the game all week with stupid work. No more. I am going to make the time for this thing that I love. I'm always available, too.

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,neverusedbs,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee,schyler523,silkygreenbelly,
Anything,chiababe,jessamyn,lowkey

I got an invite from missdanie 3 days ago, but it never finished as far as I can tell.
posted by team lowkey at 4:01 PM on March 19

I just did ones from julen and Krrrlson, and will start a couple smallish ones this evening.

There are a bunch I did last night that haven't finished yet. Come on, slowpokes (she said affectionately), I want the world to see my pop diva masterpiece!
posted by hippugeek at 4:01 PM on March 19

I JUST SPENT 6:32 DRAWING A CAVEMAN DISCOVERING A TV MADE OF WOOD AND MEANT TO HIT "CLEAR LINE" BUT ACCIDENTALLY HIT "CLEAR ALL" AND NOW I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF.

Here's the final product.
posted by burnmp3s at 4:02 PM on March 19

people are crazy for poop aren't they?
posted by jessamyn at 4:02 PM on March 19

I got an invite from missdanie 3 days ago, but it never finished as far as I can tell.

I got that invite last night, finished it a few hours ago (mostly due to 8+ hour outage this morning).
posted by burnmp3s at 4:03 PM on March 19

Thanks for the caveman update, burnmp3s.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:08 PM on March 19

Oh good! I was sure that it must have died somehow.
posted by team lowkey at 4:12 PM on March 19

Yay, finally! Invite from mudpuppie!

Sadly, I made a typo.
posted by Anything at 4:13 PM on March 19

I've been invited to a few games recently and responded to them, but am yet to receive notification of completed games for any of them. My drawings were particularly lame for all of them but I'm curious to see what the poor person after me came up with!
posted by h00py at 4:38 PM on March 19

them them them
posted by h00py at 4:40 PM on March 19

I'd guess the private games will take a lot more time to finish, since at every stage, you have to wait for a particular person to take their turn, unlike the public games which will move on whenever someone from the entire pool of players finishes their work.

At least this is true as long as the ratio of [new games being started]/[total number of active players] isn't ridiculously higher in the public games compared to private games.
posted by Anything at 4:43 PM on March 19

..which is not entirely obvious by the way. Some random people whose profiles I've looked at have started a lot more games than they've joined.
posted by Anything at 4:46 PM on March 19

I spent almost all my time on an invite on to get the "skipped" message after submitting. I retried the invite and it sent me back to the same description which seemed to submit just fine so hopefully it worked.

My time was some what eaten up by having to google who I was supposed to be drawing... (although that really didn't help me)
posted by silkygreenbelly at 4:48 PM on March 19

A comment on one of my games:
'Pink girl and volcano play Twister' is a preposterously stable concept.
posted by Anything at 5:05 PM on March 19

Think I reached saturation for this game a few days ago. Just trying it again now and I'm not so into it. Also the site is crazy slow now.

Things I skip now because I'm sick of drawing them:
-(Trees)
-Poo
-Angel/Devil or things that are angelic or demonic
-Dinosaurs
-Lisa/Homer/Marge Simpson
-Newscasters
-Semen
posted by chococat at 5:13 PM on March 19

Yeah, that last one just keeps on coming.
posted by cortex at 5:15 PM on March 19

Yeah, I as well have found myself skipping stuff that's gotten old.
posted by Anything at 5:15 PM on March 19

How did "newscasters" get into that category. Why do I feel that they shouldn't? Alas, they have; a fact we can't escape.
posted by Anything at 5:20 PM on March 19

I feel privileged not to have seen a single newscaster yet.
posted by Krrrlson at 5:24 PM on March 19

I suspect eventually the people who don't engage in the moronic trends will either leave or segregate into private game groups... which clearly spells doom for net neutrality :P
posted by Krrrlson at 5:26 PM on March 19

I'm only joining the MeFi games. I could only tolerate a few stupid drawing suggestions and half of the stuff I've seen in public games is funny... the other half is just so unbelievably stupid.

You guys though, you're sadistic. You expect me to draw WHAT?! At least it's always interesting.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 5:28 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

Things I skip now because I'm sick of drawing them:

- Aliens
posted by jessamyn at 5:55 PM on March 19

I just started two MeFi games with the same initial words as two public games I also started earlier. Let's see how they compare (and hope none of the participants end up in both the public and private version...).
posted by Anything at 5:57 PM on March 19

Re: Things I skip now because I'm sick of drawing them:.

In the writing tasks I get in the game, I think I will try a new policy of de-specifying overly cliched elements in drawings. 'Alien' becomes "Green creature" and so on.
posted by Anything at 6:03 PM on March 19

Ooh, I'm curious to see those results, Anything.

I'm not on the 'always playing' list and shouldn't be, but if anyone's starting a fairly short (~11 player) game in the next 10 minutes or so, please invite me!
posted by daisyace at 6:03 PM on March 19

MySQUEAL.
posted by defenestration at 6:05 PM on March 19

Things I skip now because I'm sick of drawing them:

- Aliens

Is this going to be a standup drawing, sir, or another bugsketch?
posted by never used baby shoes at 6:06 PM on March 19

Dammit, get home to 4 invitations and 5 completed games and the bugger's gone MySQL again. Fucker.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:16 PM on March 19

brokenbrokenpicturetelephone.com
posted by defenestration at 6:25 PM on March 19

And it's back!
posted by mudpuppie at 7:09 PM on March 19

Things I skip now because I'm sick of drawing them:

- Mario
posted by mudpuppie at 7:18 PM on March 19

Ha! De-Nazified right at the start.
posted by Krrrlson at 8:19 PM on March 19

From "Metafilter" ----> "A dollar being angry at a washing machine near a yellow candle."
posted by mudpuppie at 8:29 PM on March 19

I've drawn in games from Anything, Krrrlson (20), and julen today.

I also had a masterpiece get tossed into the ether because I ran out of time while trying to draw a tiny recognizable gas can. You know, they should just tell you that your picture will be saved as is rather than trashing it and telling you that you've skipped a game. /sigh
posted by MsVader at 8:31 PM on March 19

Alas, my plate of beans became chocolate bullets. My mouse is so uncooperative about this whole drawing thing.
posted by des at 8:35 PM on March 19

That was supposed to be a 2 next to Krrrlson's name, not a 20. If I had to draw in 20 games today, I think I might have carpal tunnel now...
posted by MsVader at 8:39 PM on March 19

jessamyn rocks
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:42 PM on March 19

I was wondering who the FUCK made that one up.
posted by jessamyn at 8:43 PM on March 19

I'm a bad person. But a happy one.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:50 PM on March 19

...FUCK...
posted by jessamyn

D:
posted by Krrrlson at 8:59 PM on March 19

I was going to write 'fuck you' on my drawing in that series, but I was worried about what the next person would do with it. So, gnfti, fuck you!
posted by mudpuppie at 9:00 PM on March 19

Awww! Fuck you too!

*gives mudpuppie a big old fuck*

Actually, fuck all of you! Note: Everybody needs a fuck!

*group fuck time!!*


what? it's spring.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:57 PM on March 19

Dangnabbit!

I just spent 10 minutes drawing the most perfect.. um, can't say, somebody else will get it now- and then I ran out of time, and didn't get to press send, and the blasted thing told me it *skipped* me! argh!!
posted by nat at 10:07 PM on March 19

Nat, I just drew an awesome "Man unimpressed by friend's facebook page" for a public series, and got the dreaded "could not be saved to" error. I feel your pain.
posted by julen at 10:30 PM on March 19

I now have a reason to use the Wacom tablet that I got as an Xmas gift 4 years ago. And I love this game. Another thing that the internet was invented for: multiplayer exquisite corpse games.
posted by not_on_display at 10:40 PM on March 19

I can't tell you how happy I am that the group fuck time happened here instead of THERE.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:47 PM on March 19

BROKEN BROKEN BROKEN. arrrgh.

I think I will try a new policy of de-specifying overly cliched elements in drawings. 'Alien' becomes "Green creature" and so on.

I'm starting to do that with any nazi-related suggestions I get. Just get a bit more... generic. Hitler becomes just a guy. Is that not in the spirit of the game? Am I "treeing" it in the name of political correctness? I'm also trying to do that with any sperm-related stuff.

I also find myself a bit lost when the references are to video games. I'm quite a bit older than most of you. My Sonic the Hedgehog was seen as a sandshrew(??). Throw an anime character at me, or Mario, or even any Pacman character who isn't Pacman or Ms. Pacman, and I'm all ??????
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:10 PM on March 19

I'm sitting on an invite, waiting for the site to come back up.

But I'm going to have to take my name of the list for the weekend - I'm going to be pretty busy at home, and don't want to hold things up. Here is the list as I have it:

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee,schyler523,silkygreenbelly,
Anything,chiababe,jessamyn,lowkey
posted by never used baby shoes at 7:50 AM on March 20

It's back!

What happens when (for whatever reason), you end up skipping in an private game?
These suggest that you may get to try again, at least in the case of saving errors: Message, follow-up.

If you had any kind of error in a private game, please try again!

Does anyone have hard knowledge of what happens when you intentionally skip in a private game?
posted by Anything at 10:24 AM on March 20

Isn't the skip button missing in private games?
posted by mudpuppie at 10:26 AM on March 20

Is it? I may have been blind to its absence.
posted by Anything at 10:42 AM on March 20

Well, what if you run out of time? Do you get to try again?
posted by Anything at 10:44 AM on March 20

And it's down again.
posted by burnmp3s at 10:49 AM on March 20

I hit 'save' for one of the private games just as it died again.

I'd be really pissed off if this weren't a totally stupid little addiction.
posted by mudpuppie at 11:12 AM on March 20

Is anyone else getting this error?
Could not connect: Can't connect to MySQL server on 'localhost' (10061)

It's been going on for some time now, and I don't know if it means my localhost, theirs, or some sort of filter in between.
posted by dunkadunc at 12:21 PM on March 20

Yes we have. This error has occurred for prolonged times before, after which it has eventually recovered, as, I presume, it will again.
posted by Anything at 12:26 PM on March 20

Back now, however briefly.
posted by mudpuppie at 1:06 PM on March 20

Pirate devises a scheme based on a birthday cake

Oh yeah, BPT is back up, too.
posted by defenestration at 1:11 PM on March 20

You can leave a blank description. I did it by accident.
posted by jessamyn at 1:14 PM on March 20

Love the response it got.
posted by cortex at 1:28 PM on March 20

jessamyn: You can leave a blank description. I did it by accident.

Let's see... should I revise my list?

Things I skip now because I'm sick of drawing them:
...
Skirted elephants
posted by Anything at 1:36 PM on March 20

BTW can someone send an invitation to me and one other, for checking what happens when the time runs out in a private game?
posted by Anything at 1:44 PM on March 20

(please post a message here if you do so. for complicated reasons I have to jump some hoops to see my email at the moment)
posted by Anything at 1:45 PM on March 20

Sure, I just did. Had to send it to 5, though, because that's the minimum in the dropdown list.
posted by mudpuppie at 1:48 PM on March 20

Thanks. Wasn't there a 3 at some point, though? Then again, I'm not surprised that they've removed it (if it ever was there). Would make a rather silly game.
posted by Anything at 1:52 PM on March 20

I think I just managed to submit text for a Krrrlson series and image for a julen one. Yay.
posted by taz at 1:53 PM on March 20

I sent one to Anything,mudpuppie,cortex,defenestration as 5 is the minimum and you've all been on here recently.
posted by Elmore at 1:54 PM on March 20

Private time limit experiment successful: Ran out? Just try again!

(Upon checking mefi mail on the subject: Another person had the exact opposite experience. Go figure.)
posted by Anything at 2:21 PM on March 20

Just did another similar test with a slightly longer waiting time after running out the clock. Still got a do-over (thanks Elmore).
posted by Anything at 2:43 PM on March 20

Anyone receiving the test game: try running out the clock and then waiting for a fairly long time before trying to join the same game again (half an hour or longer?)
posted by Anything at 2:46 PM on March 20

Oh, sorry. I did mine real quick-like. Habit, I guess.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:55 PM on March 20

Oh, hell. Go me with not reading for comprehension. On the other hand, I think my drawing was pretty fuckin' awesome, and I understand much better now why the hell I got stuck with the caption I got stuck with, so all is well in the wold on that front at least.
posted by cortex at 3:00 PM on March 20

I was supposed to wait for longer than I actually did, as well. After a few minutes of reading some other stuff: "Wasn't I supposed to check for what happened to the game I ran out? Yeah, let's see...". D'oh.

It's not every day you're faced with a thing that's spoiled just by looking at it. So you look.

Schrödinger's poop-cat.

---

Yay, I got props for my surfboard-devouring Amy Winehouse!
posted by Anything at 3:05 PM on March 20

On the other hand, I think my drawing was pretty fuckin' awesome

No kidding.
posted by Anything at 3:09 PM on March 20

Hah. I liked your drawing, cortex.
posted by defenestration at 3:10 PM on March 20

(here)
posted by Anything at 3:10 PM on March 20

Sorry, cortex. I realized after hitting save that I should have left a note for the next person. But I'm glad that next person was you -- Evel Knievel Post-It is awesome.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:12 PM on March 20

Okay, I've had two "draw aliens singing" in the past hour. First was to a monk, second to Diana Ross. That's two too many aliens singing.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:16 PM on March 20

I love seeing everyone's artwork, from surf boards to gator pits. The thing I'm tired of drawing? Anyone being shot by a gun. I can't draw guns at all--my son keeps laughing.
posted by misha at 3:25 PM on March 20

Great, so that's the best one I've been involved in and it was a test...
posted by Elmore at 3:33 PM on March 20

Last time I said this, it immediately broke, but if anyone's starting games, I'm online now and would love invites.
posted by daisyace at 3:43 PM on March 20

Witness the unintentional resurgence of the hive theme.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:51 PM on March 20

Sometimes I like what I've drawn, but the overall round isn't that spectacular. Here are some favorites out of the panels I've drawn recently:

An agreeable crocodile

Mickey Mouse is on trial. A bird with a long beak is defending him.

A duck is using an actual toilet to obviously relieve self

The sun prepares to eat a mountain [brosef's drawing and mine go well together]
posted by defenestration at 3:51 PM on March 20

daisyace, I just started a game with you and 10 other (recently active) people in it. It might take a while (as in several days, if unlucky) for you to get the invitation, though.
posted by Anything at 4:11 PM on March 20

Good work on agreeability there, defenestration. As for me, I find it difficult to portray 'compassion' and 'befriending' when all I have is 10 minutes and a squiggly mouse -- but I do my best.
posted by Anything at 4:22 PM on March 20

It would be nice to have some status lines somewhere:
You are part of X active games
You game X is on 6/11
posted by silkygreenbelly at 4:23 PM on March 20

Thanks, Anything! I'll post when it turns up. What ever happened with that 4-game meFi vs. public experiment? Is it still incomplete?

I wish:
-Pens worked all the way to the edge of the canvas.
-Pens made a dot when clicked on the canvas without moving.
-You could see which of your friends were online and ready for invites.
-+'s could be awarded just above each picture, instead of having to go into profiles.

And, would it be too elitist if:
-You could restrict games to other people with equal or greater +'s to you?
posted by daisyace at 4:41 PM on March 20 [3 favorites]

It's gone MySQL again.
posted by Anything at 4:42 PM on March 20

Aghgghghhghghhghghg!!!!
posted by Elmore at 4:43 PM on March 20

It's gone MySQL again AFTER I TRIED TO SAVE AN 8-MINUTE DRAWING.

This is getting really stupid.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:44 PM on March 20

Yeah, neither game finished; neither MeFi nor the public.
posted by Anything at 4:44 PM on March 20

That should be: "Yeah, neither game is finished yet." BPT devolves speech to Headline English.
posted by Anything at 4:46 PM on March 20

I wasn't even drawing, I was describing an awesome picture...
posted by Elmore at 4:48 PM on March 20

It's still down for me. I have five invites waiting for me, but every time I've been able to check the site in the past 36 hours, it's been down.

Boo.
posted by mosessis at 6:17 PM on March 20

It's back....
posted by julen at 8:26 PM on March 20

I'm rather fond of my surfing Republican elephant.
posted by Krrrlson at 10:41 PM on March 20

Arrgh! So many of my games haven't finished!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:06 PM on March 20

Just finished a bunch of private invites. I tried earlier, but the MYSQL errors thwarted my attempts at drawing bad pictures. At first I thought that the website was protecting you all, then I realized that it was protecting us all from ourselves.
posted by schyler523 at 11:55 PM on March 20

I've played a stack of private games recently and haven't received notification of any completed games at all! I hope I'm not jinxing them.
posted by h00py at 5:04 AM on March 21

I think that long delays can be expected in private games with more than a handful of participants. If you've got 11+ players, each of whom can basically delay the game indefinitely, what we see is unsurprising.

One thing that would make private games considerably faster would be that every time someone completes a drawing or a text, *everyone* who's on the invitation list is invited to do the next step, with only the first one actually getting to play at that point. Everyone still gets to play eventually, but the fastest get to go soonest.
posted by Anything at 6:26 AM on March 21

I gave them $20 this morning. I suggest other people who are loving it drop them a few bucks.

This one has Dr Demento in it.
posted by jessamyn at 6:36 AM on March 21

I knew the origin of the too-much-poop-on-BPT idea in this series was a MeFite!
posted by julen at 8:35 AM on March 21

The average number of rounds that some image persists through a game can be considered a quantitative measure of how iconic that image or scene is. Someone should design an experiment around it.
posted by Krrrlson at 10:32 AM on March 21

Wow, I just tried playing on my desktop (instead of on my laptop or my work computer) and this mouse is absolutely impossible. I thought the others were bad, but with this one, I can't even draw a stick figure.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:39 AM on March 21

Hee! Julen, the last frame on the one you linked to is genius. We need more eggs and flour!
posted by taz at 11:16 AM on March 21

julen: "I knew the origin of the too-much-poop-on-BPT idea in this series was a MeFite!"

Haha. Nice drawing, julen. BPT critique -> TV critique -> Advertising critique -> Shopping List.

taz: Agreed. I wish that game had more rounds. Who knows where it would have gone next...
posted by defenestration at 1:58 PM on March 21

jessamyn: I love how that one goes from "not lincoln" to dr demento and then unmistakably Lincoln.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 3:13 PM on March 21

The average number of rounds that some image persists through a game can be considered a quantitative measure of how iconic that image or scene is. Someone should design an experiment around it.

This telephone is not broken.
posted by Elmore at 4:03 PM on March 21

I've participated in at least 15 private games since Weds. night. None have completed, nor any of my randomly joined games. Patience is the true test of this game I think.
posted by Kimothy at 4:15 PM on March 21

This one also made it through 11 rounds intact.
posted by burnmp3s at 4:17 PM on March 21

Elmore, I'm impressed how many people knew the colors to google. Or maybe they just checked while they were doing it.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 6:15 PM on March 21

I've been completing all requests passed on to me, even if I don't know how to draw "Bollywood." I'll admit it, I copped out on that one.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 6:42 PM on March 21

I've played in 18 private games so far, and only 2 or so are complete (the couple of short 5 person games that we've played). I've also started around 8 private games, with 0 completions.
posted by Krrrlson at 9:52 PM on March 21

Krrrlson, I wonder if that might be partly my fault since I started a bunch of games with "taz" instead of "tazzle"
posted by silkygreenbelly at 1:11 AM on March 22

Site is down... I'm sitting on 3 (I think?) invites. It's getting confusing for me now because I click the email, click through and find the site down, and my email is getting backed up. Before I was just deleting the mail as soon as I completed an invitation, so I was only seeing new, bolded (unread) invites in the email queue, and now it's getting confuzzled.

I also don't understand the "this game has been skipped" or whatever it says that happens sometimes. I'll not have done anything with the Broken Telephone site, don't even have it open in a browser tab, click through on an invite and then notice that message after I've saved. Sometimes. Sometimes it all seems fine.

But definitely something, or a variety of things are causing games to go astray. I started a couple what? five days ago? six? that have never finished.
posted by taz at 1:59 AM on March 22

FYI if you respond to a private invite and get a "skipped" message for whatever reason, clicking the invite again usually brings you back to the correct private game.
posted by Krrrlson at 12:14 PM on March 22

Oh, now they have a nice new graphic to replace the generic MySQL error page. At least they're putting their time to good use!
posted by mudpuppie at 4:33 PM on March 22

It's back!
posted by Kimothy at 7:36 PM on March 22

Sort of....
posted by Kimothy at 7:41 PM on March 22

I just did 4 for private games.

I will also take myself off the anytime list for now, because I'll be quite busy:

Krrrlson,mosessis,julen,nat,dejah420,Kimothy,defenestration,grapefruitmoon,hippu,
lysistrata,tazzle,missdanie,hoopy,burnmp3s,minifigs,msvader,uncleozzy,
afu,misha,thinkpiece,mudpuppie,cortex,elmore,phunniemee,schyler523,silkygreenbelly,
chiababe,jessamyn,lowkey
posted by Anything at 1:06 AM on March 23

We've had a private game completion!
posted by Krrrlson at 10:43 AM on March 23

Metafilter: Intact picture telephone.
posted by Anything at 11:48 AM on March 23

Funny how both the knitting and the rocking chair came back after being lost for a pic or two.
posted by Anything at 11:50 AM on March 23

1) Colbert.
2) ??????
3) Communism!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:46 AM on March 24

Today I've had a bunch of completed game notifications for games I started. With maybe two exceptions, they've all gone scatological or penile. This one did both, independently.

Last week I didn't think I'd say it, but I'm sick of this.
posted by mudpuppie at 7:40 PM on March 25