Talk:2288: Collector's Edition

... is this going to be like 1190: Time? 162.158.74.63 04:08, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

I hope so, otherwise I don't get the joke Forresthopkinsa (talk) 04:15, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

The page just went down for me so maybe what we've seen isn't what it's supposed to be? avis_magpie (talk) 04:20, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Looks like the whole comic was just taken down. Parzivail (talk) 04:27, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Can confirm - the most recent comic is Pathogen again 162.158.187.207 04:26, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

It is still up on the mobile website, but only if you directly go to comic page https://m.xkcd.com/2288 172.69.22.146 05:10, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Perhaps this is a collector's edition because it was only up for a limited amount of time? 108.162.219.60 (talk) 05:12, 3 April 2020 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

That was my immediate assumption. The title text says, "I'm sure you can find some suitable worldbuilding material if you scavenge through the archives." And I was viewing the comic by using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine — which, wouldn't you know it, captured the page exactly once before it went down. Between that and the title "Collector's Edition", I can't help thinking that the comic was actually intended to be viewed this way. Though for what reason, and what intended meaning, I couldn't tell you. …And jeez, in the time it took me to type this, the comic is back, but changed! Oy vey. NoriMori (talk) 06:42, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Maybe it's called collectors edition, because it was only available quite limited and to an unusual time? But that logic doesn't fit with the title text. --Lupo (talk) 05:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

I doubt that could be caused by "technical difficulties". 172.69.34.186 06:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

It looks like it went back up about 5 minutes age. I can't figure out if it's possible to do more than pan right now though. 108.162.215.120 06:39, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Yeah I see the same thing, looks like they're just testing it live. What a shame :(--108.162.215.242 06:47, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

what makes you assume that this is testing right now? however it doesn't seem to be very interactive apart from panning through it, and that it seems to chagne over time (the moon from 1300 wasn't there a few minutes ago, was it? --Lupo (talk) 06:49, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

It's a giant pan similar to [1], although it's mostly empty, with some content at [2]

. The title reads that you can find world building material, if you scavenge through the archives. I assume, more content will be unlocked as you read through past comics. Goatfryed (talk) 06:52, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

That would mean it is individual? That everyone gets their own picture? --Lupo (talk) 07:03, 3 April 2020 (UTC) Edit: I can kinda rule that out. I get the same picture on my phone and my work laptop, the work laptop is in a different country via vpn, and doesn't share any logins/advertisement ID's apart from explain xkcd with my phone... --Lupo (talk) 07:05, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, it definitely changes. The orange swimming pool just showed up now. Also, at the bottom of the page, it says something about "backpack", and what appears to be a reference to some other xkcd comic. For example, "Hint: why waste time say few word when lot word do trick", which I think refers to Up Goer Five. But I have no idea what to do with that info. 172.68.141.190 06:55, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

and the content seems to be related to previous comics and what-ifs... but still no clue what to do apart from exploring the page. --Lupo (talk) 06:57, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

So I just stumbled upon this and it seems to be exactly as other commentors have theorised: as you read previous comics more stuff gets added to the page. There seems to be some kind of backpack mechanic where you collect items from previous ones somehow, but, perhaps because I've already read all previous comics, that didn't seem to work for me. Instead I just had to click the link above the backpack, which opened the comic in a new tab, and it had a bunch of stuff there. We may need to co-ordinate to figure out if different people end up with different sets of items, and to ensure we have all of them, but I think other than that it should be just a cut and dry thing of making a table with every item in it. 162.158.34.202 07:12, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Hang on, mine just changed: before there was only 1 pool on the left, now there are two. I only went back to pathogens and then forwards agin. This may be harder than I thought, I'm going to start keeping a screenshot log of actions vs. results. Benkor42 (talk) 07:17, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

You may need to try xkcd.com instead of www.xkcd.com - there seems to be an issue with the latter at the moment. 162.158.255.216 07:18, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Hold up it changed again! This time without a reload! Benkor42 (talk) 07:28, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

It seems to change periodically, the url does change everytime. New stuff always seems to be added, not old stuff rremoved. Benkor42 (talk) 07:28, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

The URL is related to the coordinates, it changes when you pan the image. --Lupo (talk) 07:34, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Timings seem to be random, working on double checking that rn. Highest first number so far is 1127, once it switches agin I'm going to experiement with manually editing the url.

I was briefly able to do things. Open the archieve, navigate it to one of the comics, that are hinted for (e.g. compiling or iata) and when viewing that comic I get a lootbox, with an image I can then place in the 2288. It worked twice, and now it doesn't again... neither with those that have worked before, nor with others I am fairly sure have been placed by other people. (such as galilean moons) --Lupo (talk) 07:21, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

I'm working on assembling an image log, wonder if we could compare? Also, the two number url could be useful, rn I'm on -1378, -152 Benkor42 (talk) 07:25, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

What do you mean by compare? Also the URL is related to the coordinates, it changes when you pan the image. --Lupo (talk) 07:34, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Yh just got that, is that the same for other panning comics (I'm a little new)? And I was wondering if the comic changed per person/system like certain previous comics. Benkor42 (talk) 07:40, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Just seen a previous comment from you saying it doesn't change cross-system. However, it definetely changes with time, so the question is whether that's per user or done on a sort of universal clock, so we all unlock the same new content at the same time.

I didn't complete writing up the thing I was able to do above... after opening the lootbox I got one image related to the comic I opened in my backpack and was able to place that in the actual 2288, where it now is placed. --Lupo (talk) 07:50, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

I almost feel like someone needs to show them this xkcd... https://xkcd.com/169/

It seems to be an interactive canvas. You can find stickers in chests on specific comics and put them in your backpack, and then when you come back here you can choose where to put them on the canvas. The hints in the empty backpack are cryptic references to comics.