Make your Password Hard to Hack

There's a new video on MLNTips YouTube site (aka MyLegoTips) that shows an easy way to make sure your password is strong.



If you use a weak password, someone can guess it and make a mess of your account. Don't write your password on a Post-It note, you never know who might see it and get ideas. Use this technique to make a strong password and keep it a secret!

Follow these rules to make sure you don't get hacked:

1. Make your password as long as possible, always use at least 6 characters.
2. Mix upper and lower case letters.
3. Include one or two numbers.
4. Include one or two symbols.

FriendLists on My LEGO Network

Should you have lots of friends or just a few?

I think I've finally decided that just a few friends is better than lots of friends. For one thing, it's easier to know your friends with a short friendlist. It's also easier to manage if you use the blocking/unblocking strategies. And really, not very many items come through even with a full friendlist. What do you think?

Blocking friends is a strategy to make it more likely that a small group of your friends (ie 2-5) will get a good chance to win items that randomly pop out when your modules are clicked. For instance, diamonds are sometimes sent out of the Dino Excav Module. If you've blocked all but 3 of your friends, only those 3 friends have a chance to receive a diamond.

Also, I've heard reports that it may be beneficial to block Networkers to increase your chances. I'm not sure on this, but it doesn't hurt to try! Let me know if you have experience with it.

Now don't be upset if someone removes you from their friendlist. There are lots of other players out there, come to the Active Users Club to exchange clicks with other players. It's easier to make trades there! I'm going to shorten my friendlist to only include players from the Active Users Club to give us better chances at winning items.

Anyhow, let me know what you prefer - long friendlist or short friendlist.

LEGO Club Magazine Badge

There's a great new way to get tons of red, blue and yellow bricks! So many bricks you won't have to worry about growing bricks!!!!

My LEGO Network has added a new Rank 1 Networker and also three new modules. The new networker is Max, who was previously a half-built hidden networker. Now that he's complete, he's no longer hidden, and he's even in the Networker catalog!

You need to get the LEGO Club Magazine Badge to be friends with Max. You get the blueprint for this badge by subscribing to LEGO Magazine. Sign up at LEGO Magazine by clicking your country on the right side. If you've already subcribed, or your country isn't listed, the Club code is "MAGAWARD". Type this in to the Club code box at club.lego.com. Then click the "Get My Badge" button that will appear. Max will send you mail with the LEGO Club Magazine Badge blueprint. Collect the attachment and build the badge for 5 red bricks.

Once you built the LEGO Club Magazine Badge, you can now be friend's with Max, so head over to his page and Add to Friend. Now you can download the three module blueprints from his page:

LEGO Club Magazine Module, Rank 1 grows 15 red bricks per day, plus 2 for every click!

LEGO Club Magazine Module, Rank 2 grows 10 blue bricks per day, plus 2 for every click!

LEGO Club Magazine Module, Rank 3 grows 10 yellow bricks per day, plus 2 for every click!

You need the Badge to click these modules, but clicking them is definitely worth it. 2 bricks for each click! That's outrageous!!!! The hover tip says you get 1 brick for each click, but try it out. Right now you'll get two! And the player doing the clicking also gets a chance to win 1 brick for each click too!

This is good news! It's nice to see that LEGO is adding new stuff to MLN.


If you're looking for someone to trade clicks with, check out the MyLEGO Active Users Club. These new modules are now listed.

Forum added to MyLEGO Tips!

Good news! Now you can exchange your favorite MyLEGO tricks and techniques with other players at the new forum.

Discuss any topics to do with the My LEGO Network website. Read through previous posts to find answers to your questions. Make suggestions about what you would like to see at the My LEGO Tips Active Users Club.

Check it out at www.mlntips.com/forum.

Enjoy!

Secret Networkers in My LEGO Network

How to tell if you've found a secret networker:
- The character must have a big N on it's avatar - that will make it a networker.
- The character must not be listed in the My LEGO Networker catalog.
- Hidden networkers will not appear in anybodys public FriendList - that's what keeps them hidden!

Here are the different types of secret networkers:

1. Hidden Networkers that are part of the My LEGO Network game play. You can find and friend them only after you get higher in the Ranks.

As you work through the levels, the first hidden networker you will encounter is "You-know-who". (That isn't his real name, but it keeps with the secrecy surrounding this character). He is not friendable until you are Rank 4, but finding his character isn't really required until you are Rank 5.

There are more hidden networkers that can only be friended from Rank 5 through Rank 10, including 5 Echo prototypes, but there's no point listing them here (or they wouldn't be secret anymore!)

2. NEW: These used to be Hidden Networkers but are now Regular Networkers that can only be friended by people who have converted their Club Page to MLN. It appears the Club Pages are being phased out now. Recently a Special Offer appeared at the LEGO club pages. Anyone with a Club Page can convert to a My LEGO Network page and receive access to the Sticker Preservation Affiliate. This set of hidden networkers was created to reward people who've been LEGO members for a long time.

Players who convert their old club page are given a set of Badge blueprints that allow them to join the Sticker Preservation Affiliate. These lucky players can buy stickers from these four (formerly hidden) networkers who belong to the S.P.A.:
- Patty Arch - founding member of the S.P.A.
- Zapp Chance
- Nora Stalgia
- Dusty
Go to http://play.lego.com/en-us/clubpages/migration.aspx to migrate your Club Page. (You need to be signed in for this web page to work)

3. Dead Letter Postman. This hidden networker makes me laugh! Check him out, anyone can friend him. Once he's your friend, ask him for a hint! (Thanks to josh333rus for telling us about this hidden networker)

4. There are a few half-built hidden networkers around also. They look to me like they were created during construction and early testing of MLN and were just never cleaned up. Type in Max, Simon, or Jamie in the 'Search for User' box to go to their pages. (Don't get too excited, it's nothing special)

Note: Max is no longer a half-built secret networker. He's is now a Regular Networker in charge of the LEGO Club Magazine Badge!

Let us know if you find any others!

MyLEGOTips on YouTube

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Well, not if it's too grainy and you can't read the words in the picture...

I've uploaded a couple videos to the MyLEGOTips YouTube channel. One is about general info for finding tips about the My LEGO Network, and the other is about finding Networkers, interacting with them and a little bit about hidden Networkers.

Now, don't get too excited! The videos are kinda grainy, so it might be hard to read the name of "you-know-who" (Rank 4 reference to a hidden networker). Anyway, it's my attempt at tinkering with some different technologies.

Cheers!

Special Items for Beta Testers

In case you were wondering about how to get Pet Glitch Modules, there's no point getting too excited unless you were a Beta Tester for MyLEGO Network, but then you probably already know about these special modules and items.

MyLEGO Network was given a test run during the last few months of 2007. When MLN officially went live in early 2008, all the user accounts were reset to Rank 0. Anyone who participated during that testing period was given a Beta Tester Badge. Look just under Kludge Dropcolumn's avatar picture to see the Beta Tester Badge.

Only users with this Beta Tester Badge can be friends with Kludge Dropcolumn. And only friends of Kludge Dropcolumn can buy the Pet Glitch Module Rank 2 blueprint on his page. I'm not sure where the Pet Glitch Module Rank 1 blueprint comes from. (maybe beta testers got it automatically?)

Beta Testers can win Beta Bugs by clicking on a Pet Glitch Module Rank 1. They can also win Blue Screens of Sadness by clicking on Pet Glitch Module Rank 2.

All these items are unattainable for those of us who were too slow getting started at the MyLEGO site ...Sigh... Next time I'll be sure to read LEGO announcements more closely!!

Mailable vs Unmailable MyLEGO Items

The differences between these two types of MyLEGO items seems straight forward enough: mailable items are brown, unmailable items are grey. Mailable you can put up on MyLEGO Trade Modules or send to your friends. Unmailable can be expensive and take time to get.

Important difference when using an item to click on a module:
- mailable items get used up.
- unmailable items do not get used up.

No difference when using an item to build a module:
- mailable items get used up.
- unmailable items get used up too.

For example, Worker Bees are mailable items. If you click on a Bee Battle Module, it costs one Worker Bee and the bee gets used up. You need to keep making them as you battle.

However Treason Beavers are unmailable. You need to make one Treason Beaver before you can click on an Electric-Dam Module, but they don't get used up. Once you've made one Treason Beaver, you can click a Dam Module as many times as you have votes without needing to make more Treason Beavers.

Giants are also unmailable items. Once you've made a Giant, seek out someone who has a Millstone Hurling Module up. Click it as many times as you have Millstones and win Blue LEGO Bricks (hopefully). After accumulating a pile of Blue LEGO Bricks, spend the Giant on building your own hurling module.

MyLEGO Search Aggregator

I added a custom search box on the right side of this page. It's targeted to return results specifically from sites that are relevant when looking for MyLEGO clues. For example, if you search for "myLEGO blue bricks" in google, there are lots of unrelated results. Type the search "blue bricks" into the search box here and all the results are from websites and forum threads related to My LEGO Network.

Unfortunately all the content here at My LEGO Tips doesn't appear in the search results yet, because it's not indexed by google, hopefully it will be soon. To search through MyLEGO Tips, use the search box at the very top of this page.

Let me know if there are other websites/forums that should be included in the custom search and I'll add them to the internal search list.
Thanks!

MyLEGO Network Overview

My LEGO Network is a "social networking" website made by LEGO that went live January 2008. You can set up a buddy list and select pre-written messages, but the interactions between real people is quite limited.

The interesting part of this website for me is gathering and building items and gaining rank. It's like a giant interlocking puzzle-maze! There are various items and blueprints located around the network, you can buddy up with networkers (automated characters) and send them attachments to get blueprints in return.

There are 10 Ranks in total, you start at Rank zero and get to the next Rank by building a Masterpiece. First you need to find the Masterpiece blueprint (a networker will give it to you after you send him something he asks for). To build the Masterpiece, you'll need to accumulate a variety of items/blueprints, so to make progress you need to chase around trying to achieve lots of mini-goals.

At the early stages, everything costs red bricks which grow on LEGO Trees. You start with one LEGO Tree module for your home page, but it would be a good strategy to buy the LEGO Tree Blueprint for 25 red bricks from Farmer John, then build a few Tree Modules (50 red bricks + 1 apple). This will take some patience over a couple of days as the red bricks grow slowly, at a rate of 10 per day. Once you have a few trees on your home page, things will progress a little faster.

This isn't a fast paced game, for sure! It seems like the designers intended to limit the amount of time per day one can be logged in. Once your daily supply of red bricks is spent, you can tinker a bit customizing your home page, but there's not really much more to do but wait until tomorrow when more bricks will be ready for harvest.

With this blog, I'll try to map out some of the item combinations required to advance in the Rankings. It's a kind of checklist for me as I tinker on the MyLEGO site, and hopefully it'll make it a bit easier for you too!

Getting to Rank 1