Deano’s answer to: “What should we do about obvious Facebook users who are exploiting our social game by playing with multiple accounts?”

Be very certain of your rationale for declaring this kind of thing… If you're just going off IP addresses, I know more than a few (creepy) married couples who can't get enough of playing Farmville and Mafia Wars together in bed.

Unless what the players are doing upsets some world-level game mechanic, like the amount of currency in the economy, it's just a lot of hassle to police them, and given the likelihood of false positives, can do a lot more marketing/community harm than good.

If your game requires a great deal of fair play, then you'll want to try filtering for what sort of players never cheat the system, then perhaps "shard" the bad players off to their own parallel game world, and set up a system that vets players for the "clean" world somehow. Even that will be gameable… But most other solutions are some level of annoying to the honest players, and should be avoided.

You'd also do well to read up on mmo/facebook game design post-mortems and interviews with the creators of similar games, and see how they dealt with issues like the one you're facing.

What should we do about obvious Facebook users who are exploiting our social game by playing with multiple accounts?

Deano’s answer to: “A friend request on Facebook is still pending, yet the person is appearing in my News Feed… when she edits her interests, etc. Why is this?”

Facebook wants to claim that all relationships on Facebook are bidirectional friendships… In reality, what you're seeing is simply the semi-accidental "follow-only" model that Facebook enables through a chain of circumstance:

  • You request friendship
  • The recipient ignores or hides your request, instead of refusing/blocking it

Okay, it's a two-link chain, but the third "result" link is that you will then see all their updates, and they will see none of yours.

The idea is, it's a "soft landing rejection" – it's not so bad if you can see my updates (even if you can't comment on them)… Since more FB users are very passive anyway, many of them won't even notice this issue. And if you ever ask me about it, I can say it got lost in the mess, and add you reluctantly later.

Overall, the idea is that it's harder on both of you if you need to face up to the fact that you're not really friends… But it's definitely more of a benefit for the person ignoring you, isn't it? Just another reflection of the wobbly moral-ethical DNA of the company, if you ask me… But honestly, I don't really mind – I have enough people I interact with, and sometimes just knowing someone is alive and posting (and now, reachable via email at username@facebook.com) is enough for me.

Oh yeah, and of course, they're the ones missing out on all my great posts, so who gets the short end of the stick is totally debatable. 😉

A friend request on Facebook is still pending, yet the person is appearing in my News Feed… when she edits her interests, etc. Why is this?

Deano’s answer to: “Can iPhones function without a data plan for the sole purpose of placing and receiving phone calls, as well as using some features that don’t require internet (i.e., calculator, clock, listening to music)?”

AT&T specifically prohibits iPhone service plans without data.

That said, if you are able to unlock your phone "illegally", then you could just swap SIM cards with a non-iphone, and associate your iphone to a new plan, even prepaid if you like, with no data requirement.

Can iPhones function without a data plan for the sole purpose of placing and receiving phone calls, as well as using some features that don't require internet (i.e., calculator, clock, listening to music)?

Deano’s answer to: “Will Google Chromebook work in other countries?”

You remember how long it took for native SE Asian Android phones to emerge? Not long. It may be best to wait until local Chromebooks are tested in the market… It probably won't be too long, the price point, battery life, and functionality seem to be appealing for a variety of educational and professional uses.

Failing that, the best option will be to buy a USA Chromebook, and then use wifi hotspot/tethering to provide it with network access.

As you surmise, the CDMA data used in the Chromebooks is USA-only (more or less), and limited to the carrier Verizon. It's unlikely that, even if the hardware was upgradeable, that drivers would already exist that could control the modem/carrier combo you have.

Simply put, if you can't wait, try to leverage your cellphone's mobile data.

Will Google Chromebook work in other countries?

Deano’s answer to: “What is the best prison escape movie of all time?”

Considering the entire island of Manhattan is a 'prison' that is nearly impossible to escape and filled with all manner of wackiness, I'd say "Escape From New York" runs pretty high up the list…
Isaac Hayes and Ernest Borgnine. A bomb implanted in the body of the world's biggest badass that will explode if he can't spring the President of the United States before the clock runs out.

What more could you want? Oh yeah… The tattoo!

What is the best prison escape movie of all time?