Cedar Point flyer all but confirmed?

If it's a silly puzzle, who cares if they give clues that throw people off? Audacious and stupid? Come on, dude.

Audacious - Extremely bold or daring. Recklessly brave. Fearless. Recklessly bold in defiance of convention, propriety, law, or the like. Insolent; brazen.

Stupid - Characterized by or proceeding from mental dullness; foolish; senseless: a stupid question. Tediously dull, especially due to lack of meaning or sense; inane; pointless. Annoying or irritating; troublesome.

I think the two word describe this situation perfectly.

I, for one, just let someone else figure it, because I don't trust expect meaningful clues anyways.

CP marketing has an increasing quandary with this issue. The problem is that there a lot fewer of them than there are of us, and they can't afford to spend days and days dreaming up this stuff--whereas quite a few enthusiasts seem to dedicate the entirety of their free time in their parents' basement to parsing out these puzzles and hints.

So the clue-makers have two choices if they intend to remain honest: (a) come up with clues that can be deciphered and that actually make sense and are relevant to the big secret, or (2) come up with clues that, although honest and actually referring to the upcoming project, are absolutely indecipherable by anybody without an Enigma machine.

The problem is that choice (2) isn't satisfying to anybody--not the legions of frustrated enthusiasts, and certainly not the folks in marketing (who genuinely want to give something fun for the fans and have others 'get' the work they've put into the puzzles. And choice (a) doesn't work either, because if there is any chance at all of these things being pieced together, enthusiasts will get it done. (Enthusiasts are tenacious, ferocious in their dedication and with a tendency to be short and plump--pretty much just like dwarves.)

So there's no wiggle room. Which leaves the only remaining choice: lie. Present the fans with clues that can be figured out but which are nevertheless not even remote giveaways to what Super Ultra Secret Project 20___ is actually going to be. It's still fun, still engrossing, still related to the general subject that enthusiasts care about. Plus it keeps the kids off the streets. Consider it the least of three evils.

Ensign Smith said:
The problem is that there a lot fewer of them than there are of us, and they can't afford to spend days and days dreaming up this stuff--whereas quite a few enthusiasts seem to dedicate the entirety of their free time in their parents' basement to parsing out these puzzles and hints.

It's their job to spend their days dreaming up this stuff.

But are irrelevant clues really a lie?

I think you are all way overthinking this. If you get all worked up about false clues I cannot imagine what you do with false product reviews.

Pointbuzz became unreadable because of the online pissing matches over people deciphering clues.

I gave up on PointBuzz years ago. I'm not sure what changed, but the quality of discussion went down the tubes there.

Audacious and stupid

Hyperbole much?

I'm reminded of Charlie Bucket's great line in the Wonka remake:

Mike Teavee: Why is everything here completely pointless? 
Charlie Bucket: Candy doesn't have to have a point. That's why it's candy. 

Extremely bold or daring

Coming from a Marketing Director, that sounds exactly what I want in a marketing scheme.

Tediously dull, especially due to lack of meaning or sense; inane; pointless.

See the quote about candy.

Why does everything you don't like/don't agree with automatically have to be so moraly reprehensible to you, Travis? It's just a hobby.

Ensign Smith said:

(2) come up with clues that, although honest and actually referring to the upcoming project, are absolutely indecipherable by anybody without an Enigma machine.

The problem is that choice (2) isn't satisfying to anybody--not the legions of frustrated enthusiasts, and certainly not the folks in marketing

There's a third category that I fall under: those who sit back and wait until the legions of frustrated enthusiasts decipher (or fail to decipher) the clues. I found it a little bit satisfying learning that some of the clues didn't mean a thing.

There's a 4th group. Everyone else that doesn't care ;).

In all honesty, if coaster enthusiasts haven't figured out at this point what Marketing is, and how it's done, you're only kidding yourself. Six Flags is already starting with their marketing for announcements for next year too. I don't bother. Most of the time, between rumors and leaks, we all know what is coming before hand.

I'd read everything about Gatekeeper on public sites weeks before it was announced. The only thing I didn't know whas the layout.

We've known about Outlaw Run for months. The layout leaked weeks before the announcement.

We've known the likely layout and placement of Great America's wooden coaster for years.

Some parks have already asked for permission for the sky screamer things.

And SFMM is getting Full Throttle.

Really, why are enthusiasts playing the game except just for fun? And the payoff, which was coming regardless, is the announcement.

I don't know about any of those things because...wait for it....I just don't care.

And if they're going to bother making games, there ought to be some payoff. If there's no meaningful payoff, most people will stop playing the games which is a lose/lose. If there's some meaningful payoff then more people will play, more people will get excited, and marketing will have done their job.

I think the General Public seem to dig the games. I don't think enthusiasts that play, or the ones that complain, are as into it because they usually aren't made for hard core enthusiasts to enjoy. Babes drink milk. Adults eat real food. Casual theme park visitors want the milk. Enthusiasts tend to want steak with no MCBRs, no OTSRs, and no FOL passes.

I agree with everything that has been said about this topic after my last post. I don't find it "morally reprehensible", which is pretty strong terminology. Instead, I find it *a bit dishonest*.

There are always "clues" in my posts to show that I really don't give as much of a crap as it may sound like I do. It's not my fault if you can't decipher them. HAHAHA!

That said, clues like this can be meaningless, yet fulfilling. They could reveal what color the track is going to be, or the location of the ride. They could offer a silly stat like how long the coaster is going to be or how many riders a train will hold.

Fun is the intended result, not frustration. :)

LostKause said:

Fun is the intended result, not frustration. :)

I agree, but really, aren't enthusiasts the only ones getting frustrated?

I understand what you are saying, but if you are not an enthusiast to some degree, I don't think you would care enough to be working out these puzzles.

Ah, touche'!

I don't do these things, crosswords are more my thing. If I did, I'd be a little peeved about them throwing bogus clues...what's the point in that?

To mess with us. It's not like they didn't warn us. They said, beware of False Clues.

^ Which was one of the few clues that *wasn't* false. ;)

Everything Harry tells you is a lie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlMegqgGORY

Man, I sure am pissed. I paid to go in a corn maze, and there were dead ends and false turns! That's really bogus, them messing with their paying guests like that! One of the pathways even led me back to where I started.

Disgusting.