Activisionary

Mr. Gravey, I sent you a PM (hope you don't fall asleep reading it). --Activisionary

Austin, Sent you a PM. (Hope you don't fall asleep reading it.) --Activisionary

Austin, Just how much do you want one of these things? --Activisionary

In the interest of trying not to miss the forest for the trees, I have been advised that it might be nice to include some details about the system I'm talking about. I don't have the energy to type all of that information up (again), but I will say that the auction page is still in eBay's database for expired auctions, #8281647448, in case anyone wants to check it out (I'd provide a link, but my archaic computer technology won't let me establish one, for some reason). Anyway, if anyone here happens to stumble across that way and has any criticisms about the auction's page length, picture amount, pricing, etc.; then by all means list them here. Be as harsh as you like; I would like to sell this thing off eventually. --Activisionary

Hello, everyone: I am in the process of trying to post an educational system auction on eBay. Like most educational systems, mine is fairly obscure (though not rare or valuable except at a sentimental level), so I'm rather uncertain as to how to list the item so as to maximize its sales potential. So, if any of the more experienced sellers on this forum have any suggestions for me, I would greatly appreciate them. Some questions: 1. What subcategory should I list the item under? eBay has no "Educational Systems" category; the closest I could find was "Vintage Games." But that feels like a misnomer to me, because my item isn't a gaming system; it's an educational system. There's no competition to wage, and no goal to achieve--in short, there's no fun to be had. So, how can I list this so that I don't misrepresent it as a gaming system? 2. How do I draw prospective bidders' attention to the item? As I said, the item is fairly obscure; there's no obvious category to list it under; and of the few people who may remember it, I suspect that even fewer would recognize it by name. So, if I have to depend on people "stumbling" across the item, how can I help them to do that? 3. How many pictures should I post? This is the real obstacle to my desire to list the item repeatedly; the more pictures I upload onto the auction page, the greater my registration fee, and too many listings would eventually overtake the item's profit potential. If the item were, say, an Atari 2600jr (which it closely resembles in size, by the way), a single picture would probably suffice; almost everyone knows what an Atari 2600 looks like, even if they've never seen the junior version. But with an item that few people have seen or can recognize, I feel an obligation to post more pictures to give them a better understanding of the product (especially since my digital camera is of comparably low quality). So, how many pictures is too few or too many? 4. How long is too long where prose description is concerned? Most collectors have an interest in the make, model, and sometimes even the ownership history of the item; at the very least, they often want reassurance that a seller knows what he or she is talking about. But many prospective bidders don't want to read essay-length sales pitches (or, for that matter, essay-length message board posts, but let's not go there), and want all auctions to be three sentences or less. I personally think that, when an item is fairly obscure, some extra information is warranted; but if I'm wrong about this then the sooner I know, the better. As for why I didn't just offer up the item here...well, after many months of lurking in the Wanted forums (not just here but at Digital Press as well), I have observed that there is absolutely zero demand on either message board for educational systems. I've seen posts asking for PONG systems or various obscure controllers, but none specifically requesting educational systems. And I understand this completely: they're pretty useless except as novelty items, and few people want them cluttering up their collections. But most gaming collectors have a familiarity with them and, I suspect, would know best how to sell them, so I thought I'd petition the posters here for advice. Besides, I am a novice poster myself, and without a reputation as a buyer/seller/trader on this board, I didn't think I could get anyone to trust me enough to buy the item from me. (I've read enough horror stories on this board about bad trades and sales to know better than to just jump in and start shilling anything...) Again, I apologize for the length of this post and the dullness of its topic, but this comes mostly from wanting to get this item into the hands of an owner who would most appreciate it (and, hopefully, clear a little money in the process). So, if anyone here has any advice to offer about educational system auctions, I'd be glad to hear it. Thanks for listening. --Activisionary

shining slade, PM sent. --Activisionary

Nope, no good. My computer system refuses to uncorrupt itself. I ask the board's moderators to kindly delete this thread. It's too bad; I really could have used everyone's help. I apologize for wasting everyone's time. --Activisionary

All right, let's try this again... ...can anyone see anything?

Well, that was embarassing. My apologies to everyone; I'll keep trying. If anything, this just demonstrates how ignorant I am and how much help I need. --Activisionary

First off, does anyone recognize this thing?!?!

Okay, I'll try that. Thank you for your help, ulij20. --Activisionary

Okay, that's cool. I just wasn't certain what (or if) anyone knew about it, because it wasn't mentioned on the 2600 "Tips and Cheats" page. The board moderators can delete this thread if they wish. But, before they do, I have a couple of questions: 1. Is there a more "official" name for this technique than "Telekinetic Adventure," and if so, what is it, so that I can recognize it later, and 2. Has anyone ever successfully utilized it with any object besides the bridge? I guess this type of gimmick is common knowledge to anyone who has played Adventure for awhile. But it felt like a big deal to me when I first discovered it (like you, moycon, it was around 20 years ago). I also got a kick out of trying to get eaten by a dragon while holding the bat, so that the bat would pick the dragon up and carry it around, giving the square an overview of the kingdom from the dragon's stomach. I discovered how to make the square appear on the "Level" screens and how to use the select switch to change the victory music on my own, but I had to learn about the Transmolecular Dot and how to trap a bat in the Gold Castle from out of a book. I never could have figured those out by myself. And moycon, I appreciate the politeness of your response. I understand how threads like this can be an ongoing annoyance for longtime posters. Thank you. --Activisionary

Hi, everyone. I thought I would introduce myself by proposing a suggestion for your "Tips and Cheats" section, in this case for that old standby, Atari 2600's Adventure. I personally think that Adventure should have way more than just five items on this list; to me, it has so many quirks that it almost feels like I discover something new about the game every time I play it (or, at least, it felt that way when I was younger). Anyway, this one was my favorite and I was always surprised that no one ever mentioned it on here...or maybe someone did and deemed it unworthy to post. If that's the case, I apologize for wasting everyone's time. I call this quirk "Telekinetic Adventure" for reasons that will be made clear later. While it theoretically can be utilized with any object except the Transmolecular Dot (which is too small), it really only works with the bridge. (The following instructions are very overdone, but I want to be as clear as possible. Should you choose to include Telekinetic Adventure on your site, they can of course be shortened considerably.) TELEKINETIC ADVENTURE 1. Select to Level 1. Any level will work, but for now, it's best to avoid the bat. 2. Take the gold key, open the Gold Castle gate, retrieve the sword, and go kill Yorgle with it; otherwise he'll be in your way (Grundle can be left alone). 3. Search the Blue Labyrinth and retrieve the bridge from its usual spot, and bring it back down to the Great Corridor (that's the large open hallway beneath the Gold Castle that spreads across three screens). 4. Take the bridge to the center of the middle Great Corridor screen, underneath the opening to the Gold Castle screen. 5. Drop the bridge, then move alongside it on the left side, and pick it up (that is, make sure the bridge is on your right). 6. Now move to the right, with the bridge in front of you. As you start to cross into the next screen, the right side of the bridge will "wrap around" the middle Great Corridor screen and be visible on the other side. This phenomenon is brief, so stop immediately and drop the bridge. 7. You should now have an intriguing situation where the left half of the bridge (where you are) is on the right side of the screen, and the right half of the bridge is on the left side of the screen. 8. Reverse course and move across the middle Great Corridor screen to the left, until you touch the right half of the bridge. Though it shouldn't be there, you will be able to pick it up. 9. Continue into the next screen (the left screen of the Great Corridor, beneath the opening to the Blue Labyrinth). Once you appear in it, you will be on the right side of the screen, and the bridge will be on the left side. If you move, the bridge will move with you. This can mean one of two things: either the square has very very long arms, or he's moving the bridge from a distance with the psychic powers of his mind. I find this explanation much cooler; hence the name "Telekinetic Adventure." NOTE: The "wrap around" phenomenon only works going left to right. It will not work going right to left. If this could be done easily with just any object, especially the sword, then it would be a huge strategic asset, because then the dragons could be killed from a distance. Unfortunately, the other objects are too small for the "wrap around" feature to work effectively. The most I have ever been able to do is to get a little sliver of a key to appear on the other side of the screen, or a little speck of the sword; but that's not enough of an object for the game to "read" it at that location, so it can't be picked up. I've had even less success with the magnet and the Chalice, notwithstanding their greater size. You can carry the bridge all over the kingdom in this way, but be warned: it's much easier for the bat to snatch it when it's so far away from you. As I said, I'm not certain if no one has ever noticed this, or if it's been discovered before and no one thought it worth mentioning (since it seems like it should improve gameplay, but doesn't). However, if there's a better name for it than "Telekinetic Adventure," then by all means call it that. In the end, it's just another of Adventure's many humorous yet useless programming quirks. Any comments? I'd love to hear what other people think about this. --Activisionary