This test was re-written during the first few days of June, one of the final 6 test releases which should be released later on in June (System 7 June 2008). Below is some brief extracts from Tale 2, but as it's been re-written, much of this may now be obsolete. Update (pruning old information) once test has been released.
Overview
Design a stream of factual questions about our land, our people, our society, and our science. Questions are rated both directly by fellow scribes, and indirectly by achieving an appropriate difficulty level.
To pass this test, you must create 7 "perfect" riddles. Riddles are submitted, rated, and answered at a Lesser Sphinx (see [Sphinx Locations]? to find one near you).
The overarching goal of this test is to create a living history museum by recording the history of the land, the people, the guilds, the skills, and the technologies.
Submitting Riddles
A riddle has two parts: The question, and the answer. The answer field can contain multiple possible answers if necessary. The wildcards ? and * can be used to represent either zero-to-one characters or multiple characters. For example, "*stranger" will match "stranger", "the stranger", and "I am the Stranger". "chest?" will match "chest" or "chests". Finally, case does not count. "Chest" and "chest" are the same.
You can have a maximum of 21 submitted riddles at a time. You can remove a riddle you submitted at any time.
Rating Riddles
Any initiate of Thought may rate a riddle by visiting a Sphinx (all sphinxes draw from the same set of riddles, so it doesn't matter which one).
Once a riddle has been rated by seven people, its rating will become permanent and it will be moved to the set of answerable riddles.
Things To Consider When Rating
- Consider the accuracy of the riddle. Is the answer given correct? A "Rate Later" button is available if you need to do some research first.
- Consider the possible responses. When answering a riddle regarding clearcutting?, a person could type either "clearcutting" or "clear cutting". If the riddle is "I come in a bowl. What am I?", a person could type either "a tadpole" or "tadpoles". Has the author taken this into account? (See the section on wildcards above)
- Consider the relevance of the riddle. Does it involve the history, society, people, guilds, or culture of this tale? "I was the first master of Acrobatics. Who was I?" would relevant, while "What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" would not be.
- The difficulty of the riddle should not necessarily be considered when rating in most cases. After a riddle has been rated, its difficulty will be tested by those who answer it. (See "Answering Riddles" below)
Noble Riddles and Practice Riddles
Riddles with a score equal to or greater than 401 are considered "Noble". All other riddles are known as practice riddles. Only Noble riddles count for passing the test and gaining focus points, so keep this in mind when rating. Higher ratings should be saved for riddles which you believe fit the above criteria.
Answering Riddles
All citizens may attempt to answer a riddle, regardless of their status in the discipline of Thought. You have only one attempt to answer a riddle. Focus points are awarded based on your longest streak of correct answers (You are, however, allowed to answer 3 questions incorrectly before a streak is ended). Practice / Common riddles are ignored, success or failure do not count for or against a streak.
Your first focus point will be awarded after a streak of 7 correct riddles, and your second after a streak of 14(?).
Took me a streak of 7 to gain a focus point, bringing me up to 8. This has been confirmed repeatedly. There aren't quite enough 'good' noble riddles in the system for 14 or 21, yet. -Sedelyan
I had 8 focus, received one point after a streak of 8, and then, not long after, failed to receive a second point after a streak of 17. If the next point is at 14, is it possible that you can only receive a point once per day? Otherwise I would say the next point should be at 21. There are plenty of riddles for this to be possible now. - Solipsistos
I had 10 Focus before answering riddles. After a streak of 12 I gained a focus point bringing my Focus to 11. My streak ended at 17 with no further focus points being awarded. This would tend to contradict that the first focus point is always gained at 7 and certainly disproves that a second is gained at 14. - Zintwana
In addition I just got a streak of 28 correct nobles with no additional focus point. My focus remains at 12 (It's gone up 1 since above through other thought tests). - Zintwana
It is possible for you to have zero correct answers in your streak, and 2/3 wrong answers. Yes, this is as stupid as it sounds. It's basically because the word "streak" isn't the right word to describe the "session".
"Perfect" Riddles
Of the first 21 people who attempt to answer a noble riddle, between 7 and 14 must answer correctly for a riddle to be considered of appropriate difficulty (33-66% correct answers). Riddles will remain in the list after 21 people have answered them, but success or failure when answering them will no longer affect the "appropriate difficulty" flag.
Once a noble riddle is determined to be of appropriate difficulty, you will be awarded credit for a "perfect" riddle.
Passing The Test
To pass this test you need to create 7 "perfect" riddles. This is a painful, iterative process. A riddle which is not noble will not allow you to pass. A riddle that is too easy or too hard will not allow you to pass. You will have to remove the weak riddles and replace them with new ones until you pass. I hope you have a Sphinx in your camp.
You retain credit for perfect riddles even if you later choose to remove it from the pool.