When I first started, my first protein, I tried to do manual only, got a fairly good score too top 10 in a <15 puzzle but it would not have make the top 30 in the all hands of the same protein.
To off set this, please make manual only puzzles with a very long deadline, so there is not pressure to spend so many hours each day (allow us to spread our effort over weeks or months)
Shameless Bump.
Re: Crashguard303
"How about releasing a puzzle with no scripts allowed first, and when it is over, releasing it again with puzzles allowed, playable for the same time. This would give a possibility to compare how far recipes pull a solution further."
This option has one major technical limitation, though: memory from the first attempt. A possible alternative would be doing a "randomized control trial" (namely, using a random number generators to conduct the coin flip that would determine whether scripts would be allowed for a puzzle) and then compare the results between the scripts-allowed puzzles and the scripts-disallowed puzzles. The tricky part is ensuring that the difficulty between the two groups are roughly equal.
Manual method folders usually develop great intuition and imagination. You'll find their top scoring solutions varying greatly. They should wear this like a badge of honor.
I agree this would be interesting, especially if we could compare puzzles that were run with and withou scripts in some way.
bump - since it came up in the chat today
I agree with Seagat. In the early days, before scripts and with only basic in-game tools, I feel there was much more diversity in the scores between different puzzles, as players had to rely on intuition and experimentation, and hone their skills according to their strengths. This must have helped to expand the game into its present form. In addition, it would probably help new players master the basic tools more quickly.
First of all, I like the idea. But maybe just a standard Blue Fuze script allowed, no others.
I think that would make it more playable without killing the idea of increasing hand folding capabilities.
I post a comment on "Wed, 11/17/2010 - 22:49" I haven`t change my views and have less time to play now then before.
But I think we could have a Non Global point scoring category with no scripts allowed.
A question worth asking is how were all the scripts first devised ?
The answer is that people used their experiences from manual folding to design the scripts, converting the manual techniques into automated ones. If foldit does not run manual only puzzles, then the knowledge base of manual techniques will soon dissapear from the community, and consequently new script ideas will not materialise, stagnating the foldit project. This effect can already be seen in the puzzles which require manual techniques such as flu design and beginner QTTN puzzles, where the older generation of players tend to dominate the top 10 results in these puzzles.
A second consideration is that from the players point of view, foldit is a game and not a scientific research project. There used to be a lot of fun in the game knowing that when you passed someone on the scoreboard that they were watching, whereas there is now no pleasure going past a script running player on the scoreboard as they are most probably at the shops. There used to be some excellent close finishes to the puzzles, with some hillarious comments being made in general chat as the clock counted down to the finish. If the human interaction and fun is removed from the game the player base will shrink.
Another consideration is deversity of results, as the scripts are not able to make intuative major rebuilds which involve taking whole sections of the proteins into new positions - the very reason that foldit was started.
Here's an idea……why don't you do manual only puzzles in a knockout cup format? Put all the team names into a hat, draw out pairs of teams to play each other on manual only puzzles, and have the 'foldit cup' awarded every 6 months ? That would help keep the manual techniques going, and add some seriously good fun to the game. Semi final: Contenders vs Anthropic Dreams…..it would be worth buying a ticket for !