Am so disappointed. All that sneaking around this whole week living in fear to avoid assassination gone to waste.
First of all the game got canned, and second, found out my target was not even in the country! I didn’t even stand a chance.
Today is Sunday and I’m still recovering from the Saturday morning stake out! Woke up at 3:30am to pack my bag ready for battle. Snacks, newspaper, water, dossier, handphone, water pistol. Waited at his HDB block all morning only to see his mother leave the house and no sighting of Agent Ice_Cool_Dude.
Back to the first point. So what happened? Typical of the Singapore Police to rain on the parade. They should be renamed the Fun Police. Sometimes they just got to loosen up a bit, it’s just a game! Citing the reason why it was cancelled is because organisers should have applied for an Entertainment License (which honestly they wouldn’t have approved anyway).
Here’s an excerpt from the email sent by the “Shadow Government” (organisers) to all “Agents” (me).
Police involvement:
Assassins, we regret to tell you that the Singapore police has requested that we shut down the tournament.We always work with the local authorities to ensure a safe and fun environment, and although this really sucks for us, we shall respect their wishes and close this tournament early at 00:00hrs Monday March 17th
What happens to you and the game now?
As much as we respect the police’s concerns, we also respect your experiences so far, working hard as a top notch assassin.We want to give you, the remaining players, some sense of closure, so we will end the tournament 00:00hrs next Monday March 17th. So those of you who are close to your first or next kill, you still have a chance to tally up your score and and close out any pending assassination plans that you have.
After that, we will be forced to officially close down the tournament as requested by your police department.
What the hell happened?
In over five and a half years of our history, we’ve never had issues with the Police. In fact, we’ve had help from the police in cities like Vancouver.Apparently, we’ve just learned yesterday, that the Singapore police had contacted our local partners to express their concerns…..
…… we would have done all we could to iron out the issue right then and there with your police so that we can provide our best game experience for you all.We are filled with sadness at this unfortunate and regrettable turn of events. We loved reading your stories and how much ass you guys are kicking.
We are sorry, sad face.
Response from the local rep at http://www.streetwars.sg/
The Real Story – Singapore’s Not Ready?
What did life lack in Singpore? A little excitement and color? Well that was what we thought when we decided to bring this game to our sunny shores. We always wanted Singapore to be a vibrant city and this was a great game concept that we just had to try to bring over for everyone to experience.After just a week of play almost everyone that we spoke to mentioned about what a great experience this game has brought to their life. How it brings out the best in people as killers and targets trade stories talk about each other’s experiences and meet new friends. It was our great pleasure to see so much excitement in the players and it was fun while it lasted.
After spending over 4 months trying to get this great game over to our shores it looks like luck has stuck out for us. This was a love affair by the local organizers personally and not comercial in nature. If you were to run a quick calculation you can see that it was run at a break even/loss contrary to popular belief that it was for profit.
Was the cancellation due to poor planning or lack of effort? Yes and No. We should have made 100% sure before commencing the game that was our fault and we apologize to you the players for that oversight. However, we did try, we had contacted the police on this issue a month before and got the round about on what was needed to run this event here. We had mistakenly assumed that if this was a private event taking place in the whole of Singapore with no mass gatherings where only 2 persons are playing at anyone time, that no permit would be required. We’ve all had orientation and other corporate games in and around singapore organized casually and those went without any issues so what’s the difference here, we thought? We were wrong.
After all that’s said and done, the police don’t have an easy job and we respect their decision to shut down the game. Our intentions were to bring this great game to Singapore, never to cause problems for anyone.
We all learn from our mistakes and we seek everyone’s understanding as we try to dig ourselves out of this hole. Stay dry guys.
Maybe you should have taken his mom hostage and demanded that agent ice_dude come back if he ever wanted to see her dry again.
@Mr.
Perhaps… or maybe staked out earlier in the week. Or ordered him maccers to his house. or just rock up in a trench coat?
I think the trench coat would have sealed the deal
But then again if Columbine is anything to go by the Fun Police may have profiled you as starting your own Trench Coat Mafia and locked you up.
What? Water pistol also cannot play? Wah piang
Oh bummer! Trust the Singapore Police to be so strict about water pistol games. I wonder if the game would ever make it to NZ. It would be interesting to see if any Kiwi would play it, considering the majority of them go to bed by 9pm here!
I had a feeling this game will be stopped sooner or later. The police is just trying to play it safe though it really sounds fun. I think ever since sept 11th, everything has been really inconvenient for everyone.
they had an earlier version of their statement explaining the situation posted up on saurday afternoon that basically made it sound like the police were being unreasonable. They took that down later in the day and replaced it with the current one that’s on the site and the one you’ve got here. I submitted a comment to explain that it really boils down to bad organisation and that it really isn’t the authorities’ fault, nor the original Streetwars team’s. And hey, hey, of course my comment didn’t get past their moderator and I was actually polite and civil in my comment! I called them up this morning and they said they don’t know how they are handling refunds yet. What the…Are you getting a refund?
My brother took part in the game and yes I do agree it is a fun street game plus brings about camaraderie amongst friends, but truly it is unsuitable in the current security climate. We have police dogs sniffing our MRT stations a few days after the foiled Times Square bomb attempt, and having “agents” sneaking around at carparks near our homes at night does not do anything but cause some anxiety..
Perhaps it also boils down to how Singaporeans in general (myself included) are a tad too pampered and nervous when it comes to security and safety. But who can blame anyone right..
Hope you had fun while it lasted anyway! At least you did not get shot down before the game got canned.. Cheers..
@Bing
Well that’s a good thing! Just means you don’t have to be on stake out for too long
@Kuen
I understand their concerns. But sometimes i just wished they lightened up a bit.
@c
I’m not going to be a calculative about something to small.
I haven’t seen the updated blog post. Hmm i’ll go check. thanks!
I’m not getting a refund. I feel sorry for Ape Communications. They tried, and i think it took time and resources for them to organise it. So i’ll just leave it
The email I got from Supreme Commander when I asked for refund:
QUOTE
It is interesting to note that out of all the players assembled, you are stand alone in this matter.
I gave you the opportunity to discuss this matter with me and come to a reasonable solution that would make us both satisfied. For some reason which I cannot fathom, you chose to ignore that opportunity and have chosen this route instead.
Please keep in mind that our friends at APE had nothing to do with this save to help us organize. They did not collect any money, were not paid any money, did not manage any funds, did not manage the game, etc. This is all on my company, the Shadow Government/Streetwars and myself personally.
I must ask:
Are you poor or just a jew?
If you are poor and need the money back, I can understand…I generally try to keep my distance from the filth and disease of the lower classes but, I have heard of the concepts of “compassion” and “charity” so, if yer actually poor, then perhaps I can do more research into those concepts and work something out.
If, on the other hand, you’re just being a jew, well, then you can fuck off.
You played the game, you got everything intended out of it and now, you are willing to waste your own time pursuing $50.
Really?
Understand that this is no longer about the money for me, it is the principle of the matter. By taking something provided, using it to completion and then asking for your money back in such a fashion, you have shown yourself to be a dishonest, unreasonable and a generally shitty person. I will enjoy this moving forward.
Coming from a former attorney, good luck getting loot back for a service that was provided to you in full…particularly considering that we are a completely foreign owned company with no offices outside the U.S.
If you ever find yourself in New York City, please feel free to look me up (seriously), I would love the opportunity to personally spit in your face. Generally, I try to take a respectful tone with others, but scumbag fucksticks like yourself piss me off to no end. I have taken shits with more integrity than you. Go fuck yourself and good luck, you dick.
UNQUOTE
This is followed by a gmail chat. He threatened “I know where you live”
Guess what. I have going to CASE and police. Also, I have contacted New Paper and Straits Time. “Streetwars Founder turns nasty”
@Agent Orange
Whoah WHoaah WHOAH! What happened????? Wait.. how did you approach them for the refund. Did you say something to piss them off?
Wow…
Just to make sure its read in context. The following are the preceding emails:
Quote
First of all, our partners did seek approval and attempted to get all the necessary permits. It was the requirements of the police that changed somewhat arbitrarily. We would not even have attempted to organize the tournament in Singapore if we knew that the police would shut us down.
You read correctly in the papers, only the live players will be receiving refunds…let me explain why.
We feel it is fair to refund only the living players – those who are actually losing something from the game getting cut short, as opposed to those that died, who we feel have really lost nothing. Those, like you, that have died during the course of the game received the full scope of what they paid for.
You were killed and thusly, were out of the game. Although I should not be expected to bring an outsider into our finances, I will humor you…although you are correct in stating that we will not be coming to Singapore, we still plan on both awarding prizes and having a closing event (perhaps a funeral is appropriate). Additionally, in organizing the tournament, printing packages, setting up pickups, and managing the game overall, we still suffered expenses.
It is for the above reasons that we feel it is completely fair to manage the refund process as we have done.
That said, I’m completely open to hearing reasonable counter-points to my argument.
In closing let me say that I am reasonable and open to discussion but, I do not appreciate your idle threats and, if you think that the threats will move us to action, you are sadly mistaken.
Reason I will gladly listen to.
I look forward to your reply.
Supreme
Unquote
I replied:
Quote
To Organizer,
I take this as official stance on the refund issue with respect to the premature end of Streetwars in Singapore. And this email shall be used in redress of the issue.
Redress would be to two parties.
CASE
Small Claims Tribunal
PS: Not threats, just due processes. Yes, we are orderly in Singapore.
Unquote
Guess there would be more news in the papers this week.
If u r planning something this big. You need lawyers, pathfinders and many skillsets to smooth, the way, should have partnered with the brotherhood. They would have seen the matter head to tail.
Definitely and absolutely should have gone the brotherhood way, thats the only way to go. This was a real ***** up.
Hahahaha!!! OMG that email is hilarious! Sucks for you agent orange, but you gotta remember people outside of your bubble don’t always play nice. Buck up, be a man and go hunt that sucka down and get ur refund!
Woah wait, let me rephrase my above statement after reading the second long thing you posted. You were already DEAD!!! What the hell is wrong with you. Of course you’re not getting your money back!
@Agent Orange
How did you die so early anyway?
Do you REALLLLLLLY know how to play this before you signed up at all?
GEEZ, and come on, even if this lasted 30 weeks and you paid $50,000, you are still a dead man after week 1.
you’re a pathetic sore loser and a lousy sport.
HAHA! Me and my cousin wanted to join, but he told me that the game’s not gonna make it in Singapore and i can’t believe he’s right! Lucky i didn’t join or else waste money haha..
Nothing surprising, I’d imagine the game would involve plenty of clandestine, fidgety lurking around, which would no doubt give the party pooper police ants in their pants, and perhaps, actually something to do.
@Sore Loser
plse dont comment if you are not even in the game.
@Agent Orange
Agent Orange, you DIED. let it go.
if u really need 50 bucks that badly, state ur reason and i may just give it to you. just stop whining, pls.