In this edition of DID (Designing in Downtime) I am going to go to the vault for part of it, and then do a quick turn on easy solutions to “change things up quickly.” Yes…this is a bit of a cop out…but I am knee deep in a major remodel, and writing time is being wedged in…like so many two-by-fours in a newly framed wall.
While looking back at some of my earliest TSTO blogging, I came across an archived story about the Candy Striped Cooling Towers, which were part of “Community Prizes” back in the day. Remember Community Prizes?
What is evident in the story, is that there were a TON of problems with the game at the time, and people were freaking out. It kind of makes me laugh to think about the types of things people whine about now. We have become an entitled bunch. But, I digress…
There are loads of items that allow you to change them up, with the “flip of a slider,” giving you a whole new look. Let’s take a look.
Without taking the time to do the research (I really do have to get back to framing in the new walk-in shower), off the top of my head, I can think of a handful of obvious items with multiple faces.
“The Cooling Towers” are actually part of huge list of holiday themed items that can be flipped for Christmas. But, when it came out, people freaked!
Here’s what I wrote back in January, of 2014…
The REAL Story Behind The Candy Cooling Towers
As many of you know, part of our roll as bloggers and purveyors of TSTO News is “keeping it real.” In other words, when we find out something game-related that blows up a popular myth, we are not only compelled to report it, but in fact feel motivated by your trust to do so.
We have uncovered just this kind of information regarding the latest Community Prize, the Candy Cooling Towers. Many people pointed out that they thought it seemed odd that the Candy Cooling Towers were the final prize when it was clearly substandard, and late to the Holiday aspect of the game.
The truth is even more shocking than we could have imagined.
The first sign that something was amiss was the hacked game files last week of the EA Origin servers. It was reported that a Denial Of Service attack was being perpetrated by a group intent on bringing down game sites worldwide. The group, known only as DERP, was originally reported as a group of hackers who had a grudge against a number of gaming companies, including EA.
But, we have learned that the REAL group behind this attack, were ALSO responsible for “Tagging” the cooling towers at the Springfield Nuclear Plant, and both acts were part of a wider internal insurrection by Holiday Update workers.
To understand the reasoning behind the insurrection, we point to two critical changes in the recent makeup of the commercial Christmas holiday. The First, as we earlier reported, was significant changes in gift-giving, primarily the shift from traditional gifts to gift cards. This created a glut of Holiday workers in the Displaced Elf Repurposing Program (DERP), who had originally been acquired for Toy Factory Production by Claus Co. and were ultimately repurposed into Gift Card and Package Gathering during the 2013 TSTO Holiday Update.
When we had a chance to check the personnel records (also available through game files), we were shocked to find out that a great number of these workers had been imported from OZ, and were former members of the Lollipop Guild, a nefarious gang best remembered for the “Brick Road Riots” in the late 1930s.
“Elves can live as long as 3oo years, but they are temperamental, and can be destructive when pushed,” reported Dr. Thomas Grimm, who has been treating semi-mythical characters for depression and anger issues for most of his storied career. “They are great workers…some of the most dedicated you will find. But, they don’t like getting jerked around by management.”
As was revealed in interviews with several elves who wished to remain anonymous, but went on record, the “the final straw” had been the extension of the Holiday Update for a full week.
A DERP representative stated, “Look…we weren’t wild about the mess with the whole Homer-Lisa Perpetual Gluttony/Drunkenness/Search mess. It made our lives kinda irrelevant. Nobody wanted to play the game the right way…they were getting all of the Wheel spins they needed without collecting gift cards or delivering presents to neighbors. So, the Big Guy, Mr. Claus, furloughed even more of us, while all of the Springfieldians ran around town like…well…elves. It was humiliating!”
“Then…because of their lousy programming, they arbitrarily extended the whole mess by a week, so EVERYONE had a chance to get all of the personal prizes…even though they didn’t really need us to do it,” the DERP REP continued. “And it wasn’t in the contract! Claus Co. is just trying to bust our union so he can get a better deal next Christmas. Well…enough is enough. Ya know?”
Apparently, enough WAS enough. DERP hacked the game origin servers, and then sped up the delivery of the final prize by changing the countdown timers. And of course, the final prize was the GRAFFITI TAGGED Cooling Towers. Nothing says AMBIGUOUS, like decorating a nuclear power plant to look like a Candy Cane.
The only question that remains….will EA allow the Candy Stripe Towers to remain past January 7th? Or like the Plow King, will they render the stripes impotent once the snow has left Springfield.
Only time will tell.
And of course…we all know how that turned out. Wait…no…I don’t remember.
Anyway…back to remodeling.
Oh…how I wish I could just tap a switch and make the second bathroom remodel happen.
But, noooooooo…. As with so many remodeling projects with older house, you discover the shortcuts the contractors did to bang the house out in the good old “Let’s build a whole neighborhood of 140 houses in 2 years, 1970s). Great shortcuts, and laziness…like…say…pouring a couple of bags of concrete into the hole with the supply lines and the sewer connection…so you have to hand chisel, and then JACK HAMMER the concrete out so you can re-plumb for the walk-in shower unit your wife wants.
The Jackhammer was a first…and one of the “manliest” tools I have ever used. So, much destruction, so quickly…But, I digress…
Tell us YOUR favorite “Switch Flipper Building” and what you do with it…
Keep on Tappin’!