57 replies to this topic

[Roadbeer]

You've seen him on some of your Loading Screens, the little "upside-down man"




In the excellent thread "Paging Karl Berg..." the question was asked, "What is it", to which the cryptic reply of...

Karl Berg, on 19 April 2014 - 12:59 PM, said:

On the topic of that mysterious loading screen guy. I asked the UI team about it. Not one of them talked... All I got were smirks.

So, rather than derail that amazing thread, post your conspiracy theories here.

Edited by Roadbeer, 20 April 2014 - 06:40 AM.

[Roadbeer]

My conspiracy theory.

Matchmaking sets up the teams where one is intended to win and one is intended to loose. That is how it gives the appropriate weight for a win on your Elo.

You get this, buddy, you just lost the PUGlottery.

[Duncan Aravain]

Perhaps it reflects PGI version of the Universe: Up is Down, Unbalanced is Balanced, WAG is Equal ELO.

.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

GLaDOS has begun testing of pilots to determine who is the most science-capable mechwarrior in the Inner Sphere. Though casualties are high, the price must be paid if the IS is to marshal a successful defense against the Clan invaders.

Alternatively, one of the Devs tripped and bumped his head on his first day at work, and it's an inside joke mocking him for his bad luck. He will one day grow too frustrated by this constant reminder and resign, investing his severance package in Star Citizen only to see it never see release...

[Tekadept]

Yep , you have more chance of running on the ceiling then winning that match

[Silentium]

It has to be some kind of inside joke, or artifact left over from testing. Maybe it means that PGI is watching your feed on the game server and having lulz at your expense.

[FupDup]

It represents what is happening to this game (falling on its head).

[Dimento Graven]

An indicator telling you are about to receive the "treatment":

Every time it showed up I had bad, bad hit registration, or when playing my missile boats, my missiles suddenly developed fear of any 'mech component colored solid RED. All convergences were slower (so many times a targeted 'mech had my lasers or gauss rounds pass on either side of it), and I just felt "hotter" though that might just me getting pissed at not being able to get my missiles to hit great big RED center torsos...

Oh yeah and I sure as HELL had a lot of lock "teases", where an enemy 'mech some how is able to stay 'targetable' UP TO THE POINT of getting "locked" for missiles, then "poof" would vanish from targeting.

And yes, ONE OF THE FIRST things I would put into any game I was designing was the ability to 'enhance' the difficulty for anyone I perceived as a 'malcontent'.

I AM that kind of person.

As far as your idea of it being a symbol showing you got screwed in the pug lottery... Well... That's pretty much my 'standard state' regardless of whether "Hanging Man" shows up. Too often I'm playing with pugs who play like their fingernail polish hasn't yet dried, or have decided that presenting themselves to the enemy one at a time is an excellent strategy...

[Ilithi Dragon]

My honest-to-reality hypothesis is that it is present to indicate connection issues. I still maintain that it is not an upside-down man, but rather some kind of connectivity symbol similar to the USB symbol. This would explain all of the problems that people report having while playing matches after this little emblem appeared.

Interestingly enough, I have not noticed unusual difficulty or hitreg issues in my own games after seeing this little guy pop up, but I just might not be able to distinguish them from my own connection issues thanks to my shitty local ISP (which is taking more than 4.5 months to replace a faulty tap-on, an aging modem, and a faulty ground cable). Because of said ISP issues, I've been playing my ERLL Raven almost exclusively for over a month now, since laser hitreg is less affected by latency issues, and the only time I've had hitreg problems with my ERLLs is when my local internet connection is tanking.


My wild-and-crazy conspiracy theory is that this little guy pops up to harass the people with high ELO, or otherwise notably high performance. I usually do very well with my Duke of ERLL, and my memory may be biased because I wasn't paying attention until very recently and I'm playing into a wild-and-crazy conspiracy theory, but it seems to me that this guy shows up more when I'm doing exceptionally well than when I'm not.

[Troutmonkey]

Roadbeer, on 20 April 2014 - 06:40 AM, said:

You've seen him on some of your Loading Screens, the little "upside-down man"




In the excellent thread "Paging Karl Berg..." the question was asked, "What is it", to which the cryptic reply of...



So, rather than derail that amazing thread, post your conspiracy theories here.

I have never seen this image before...

[Dimento Graven]

Troutmonkey, on 20 April 2014 - 07:27 AM, said:

I have never seen this image before...

It will be in the upper left corner of the map splash screen when/if it appears for you.

[Roadbeer]

Troutmonkey, on 20 April 2014 - 07:27 AM, said:

I have never seen this image before...

Top left of the map loading screen when you drop in a match (it's about the size of a smiley 16x16), now that you're aware of it, you'll see it all the time. Because that's how shit works.

For the longest time, I thought it was just a graphical artifact when they changed the loading screens, because it wasn't consistent. Now that I know it's a thing, and UI team wont talk about it...

Edited by Roadbeer, 20 April 2014 - 07:33 AM.

[Odins Fist]

Roadbeer, on 20 April 2014 - 06:40 AM, said:

You've seen him on some of your Loading Screens, the little "upside-down man"

I have never "NOT" gotten this in the upper left hand corner of my screen, I always see it there...
By this I mean NOT once has this NOT been there.

It's there 100% of the time for me.

I wondered what it was when it first showed up after that patch.

Edited by Odins Fist, 20 April 2014 - 08:53 AM.

[Pariah Devalis]

Seen it all the time. Asked around in my Clan what it means, and apparently I was the only one who noticed it there. Get it all the freakin' time.

I have seen it flat gray, as well as in the picture above where it is 50/50 blue gray.

Edited by Pariah Devalis, 20 April 2014 - 08:54 AM.

[Thorqemada]

Obviously this is a reminder for a Facebook game.
This is a plant and the water is down to 50%...

Edited by Thorqemada, 21 April 2014 - 02:05 AM.

[Orbit Rain]

It's an upside down java version of the hourglass as far as I can tell.

[Odins Fist]

Pariah Devalis, on 20 April 2014 - 08:53 AM, said:

I have seen it flat gray, as well

Yeah I forgot about that, I see it just Grey as well some of the time, no blue in it at all.

[xengk]

All I know is, whenever I get that icon I will be encountering a black screen after the loading screen and cant play the match.


I wonder the shift from all grey to 50% grey is an indication of something is being built secretly by the UI team.

Edited by xengk, 20 April 2014 - 09:27 AM.

[Navy Sixes]

I see it all the time and have always wondered what it meant. I always assumed it was a designer's tag, like a signature. Although my connection is pretty bunk, often, so maybe the above theory that it indicates stability issues is correct.

[Wintersdark]

Roadbeer, on 20 April 2014 - 06:45 AM, said:

My conspiracy theory.

Matchmaking sets up the teams where one is intended to win and one is intended to loose. That is how it gives the appropriate weight for a win on your Elo.

You get this, buddy, you just lost the PUGlottery.

... Or that you won it.