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August 24, 2005
d1g1t4l t0m Pwnz you, n00b!!!
Greg Mentis' life has been turned upside down. The private school he attends in England has been rocked by the revelation that the headmaster has gone missing. The new headmaster is strange and mysterious, and there are suspicions that there is a sinister plot afoot amongst some of the teachers to cause trouble to ends unknown.
This is the basic premise of "Greg's Life" a new g-roots ARG that popped up on the ARG radar on August 22nd. So far, there hasn't been too much to stump a veteran ARGonaut, but the trailhead has led to at least an interesting couple of days in terms of sites, characters, and plot developments.
Greg has alerted us that "Celsus School" (warning: benign pop-up-heavy site!) has had some strange happenings lately, and that he and his friend Tom (4 l33t H4X0R!!1!one!) are some of the few students who think there is a vast conspiracy behind the situation. As usual, it's up to us to dig in and see what we can find. Greg and Tom both have blogs to keep us updated, not to mention periodical IRC chat sessions taking place helping things along as well.
While the premise is fairly "traditional" for the genre, there is some potential to this game. Rest assured that ARGN will be following up with this game, and keep you updated if it appears to be making waves.
Discussion at UnFiction.
Posted by Larry Eisner at 8:53 AM
August 23, 2005
Blitz League: Is it ARG, or just G?
Two weeks ago we reported on the possiblity of an ARG centered around an upcoming football console game entitled "Blitz: The League". Sadly, after watching the site since then, I just don't think there is an ARG there. In fact, I don't even know if there is any real marketing here. It's like they couldn't settle on a concept, and that bothers me. Whether this was to be an ARG, or simply an alternate reality without any intent of a game at all, it doesn't live up to the vaulted standards that modern marketers must abide by, if not exceed, these days. It's kind of sad, because this looks like it could be something fun, if done properly.
You see, in light of sole licensing rights for NFL video games being awarded to EA Sports and the much touted Madden franchise, Midway's Blitz League takes its "extreme", "in-your-face" attitude and makes up an entirely fictional league with fictional players and even a fictional commissioner. They've got a scandal angle at easily-discovered reddogdown.com. They've got the comedy angle covered with a focus on a waterboy. Heck, they even have a hidden puzzle to solve. They went so far as to create an elaborate "alternate reality" in their league history section, and many people took that as a positive sign and hoped for the best.
Unfortunately, so far the best is not that good at all. The truth is, there's bad marketing afoot. The game may be fine and playable, but there's no excuse for marketing like this. There are at least eight distinct things going on in this endeavor, and none of them really interrelate well. Not one of the various angles seems to have been thought out before the game designers (or marketing team, if that is the case) decided to toss out a heap of possibilities that probably won't come to fruition. I would be very surprised if we see, in the future, any substantial development of this game.
This is a shame, because there are some things in here that could be used to create a really imaginative and creative site. The writing is decent, and obviously they had at least a small advertising budget (as there was voice work, and content created just for the site). What it needs is a more honest attempt at creating, promoting, and selling this world to its players. Whatever it's trying to be, it just... isn't. From what I can see, it is a malformed and non-functional idea, a conglomerate of half-baked ideas.
These are my thoughts, not because it's not what I want in an ARG, but in terms of quality of production, and cohesiveness of concept, I find it to be an utter failure. This isn't about personal reasons -- my feelings are full of bigger, nastier words for this type of advertising. I just don't see why anyone would throw half-made ideas at the general public, through whatever media they choose, and expect their entertainment-savvy, advertising-aware audience to eat it up like candy.
If I were going to create a webspace to promote a product, and attempt to do so in an entertaining way, then my first priority would be to ensure that it actually entertains. While it can be argued that this site may do this in a small fashion, for a short period of time, it fails to capture me, a card-carrying member of the spending generation that they are expecting to buy this game. I am the target demographic -- the 20 something who knows about video games, knows a fun product when he sees it, and has the capital to make an impulsive purchase on the order of $40-$50, based on the fact that a website was entertaining enough for him to be interested in the product.
With that said, the simple fact is this: people like me would not be motivated, in the least, to buy "Blitz: The League" after being exposed to this campaign. While the game may go on to sell copy upon copy on its own merit, this site does not add anything to the world Midway is attempting to create.
Posted by Larry Eisner at 7:27 PM
August 17, 2005
THAT's coming from Mark Z. Danielewski
A favorite book of many ARGers is Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. Originally published several years ago on in bits and pieces on the internet, it was released in 2000 as a bound edition. The book sports a story-within-a-story framework and some experimental techniques, such as word coloring, text placement, and the like. There are also hidden messages scattered throughout, guiding readers to participate in the story as much as read it.
Years of speculation on his next work seem to be coming to a head now, as a message from the House of Leaves forum administrator directs members to visit the "THAT" forum. It appears Mark Z. Danielewski has finally broken his several-year silence on the board and has posted a message asking for input from readers, promising "something new".
Resources:
House of Leaves discussion board.
Message from Mark Z. Danielewski.
Unfiction discussion on House of Leaves.
In-game book review of House of Leaves from Lockjaw.
Posted by Dee Cook at 5:51 PM
August 16, 2005
Inside The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project was a unique ARG experience that took place during this year's Blogathon charity event. We were fortunate enough to have Xara Roberts, the creative mind behind the game, email us with some of her thoughts about the experience.
"I first did Blogathon 2 years ago when I was 17 - so many people who participated that year managed to pull off some amazing projects whilst still staying within the rules. Despite not having a properly functioning blog for about a year, I intended to do this year's Blogathon. Raising money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis has been important to me since my mother was diagnosed with the disease in 2000. I also knew that because I had dropped off the blogosphere for so long I would run into problems outside of my circle of friends when trying to raise money, and since most of my friends are students, it wouldn’t be the most lucrative campaign. So when thinking about what to do to get my cause out, I realised I could combine this with running my first ARG."
"I've been playing ARGs for about 9 months, having started when I followed the trailhead in the Firebox catalogue that led me to Perplex City. I have never really been active in the genre, just lurked and played along by myself and with a friends. When I started thinking about what exactly I would do for Blogathon, I thought that I could turn an abandoned story I tried to write on livejournal into an ARG. That story, The International Terrorist Café, had many similarities to the Blogathon project (mostly in that I cannibalized the characters out of it to put into the ITC) and I started plotting out how I could turn the narrative into a functioning game. However, following the terrorist attacks on London, I decided that a game based around international terrorism would not be the best thing to do, so I changed the basic storyline from terrorists to cults and restarted my plan."
"However, I’m pretty much broke, so I didn’t want to have to shell out for a new hosting package so I could host more than one site; the story was subsequently further streamlined so that it could be run out of my personal domain. I knew that it had to be a small game because I had only managed to come up with a few puzzles (I have next to no head for puzzles) and I had only a few weeks from signing up for Blogathon until it started. I created a multi-character back story to structure it around and a vague outline of the mysterious cult, the Interred Technology Council, rounded up a few friends to pose for pictures as Gillian and Mark and spent many hours in Photoshop creating in game images and sites. Altogether it probably took me about 3 weeks from deciding to do Blogathon to having a mostly fully finished ARG."
"I ran into many, many snags planning and running the ARG that could have been easily prevented had I had someone to run it with. Take for example the 2.html puzzle. This involved using a long error code number as co-ordinates to get a keyphrase from a strange ‘server error’. I wrote this at 2AM many weeks before the ARG started and assumed it was fine. I did a check on it the day before, found that there was a slight error and corrected it. On the day of the ARG it was solved and the answer emailed…and it was the wrong keyphrase. I had forgotten to upload the corrected version to the server. Also SIM Cards - the puzzle where players had to find the ITC recruitment pack was initially supposed to be done by decrypting a phone number and then calling it to hear Gillian’s voice mail, which pointed them at xmail hard drive where it was stored. Instead of taking control and going out and buying a brand new SIM, I used one I had lying around that I had won in an online sweepstakes ages ago to save money. I put it in a phone and I assumed that because it gave me a number it worked. Of course, it didn’t, and when I went to record a message and found it was disconnected, it was too late to go buy a new one, so the puzzle had to be completely rewritten with 2 hours to spare to involve email auto-responders (which ended up not working and all had to be sent out by hand)."
"Another big snag was the fact that it was running over 24 hours and the rules of Blogathon are that you have to post at least once every half hour or you will be disqualified, nor can you pre-write posts to be posted later. By 2AM the players were starting to hit a wall and I was already crashing, and I was quickly running out of plot and puzzles with 12 hours left to go. I managed to get my players to take a 4-hour nap as I frantically wrote riddles and set up another sub-site in order to delay the end. I still finished an hour and a half ahead of schedule, however, and so made 3 out-of-game posts at the end that I hope people overlook."
"Despite running into problems with the puzzles, plot and one quite embarrassing out-of-game bleed where I had forgotten to delete some test emails out of one of the in game accounts, I felt it went well. The snappy every-half-hour pace of the game worked to everyone's advantage, and as far as I can tell it was played mostly in chat on unfiction, but there were a couple of blogathoners who were playing along independent of that. Communicating in real time with the players by both email and through the blog meant that I was kept in the loop as to how they were solving everything and how far they were coming along, which let me gauge how fast to let the game run, when to set up stops and hurdles if it was going too fast, and to drop hints if it was running too slowly. My players were excellent and we managed to raise $250 in both pledges through the Blogathon site, and donations to the justgiving page."
"I would like to run a proper full length ARG some day or at least one that would let me get some sleep once in 30 hours, maybe later in the year after I’ve started university and recharged my ideas. If people would still like to donate to the cause they can do so at http://www.justgiving.co.uk/blogathon2005 and can read the now finished ARG at http://www.goodbye.nu/blogathon."
Thanks a lot for the insight, Xara. We hope to hear from you soon -- sooner than next year's Blogathon, anyway. :)
Posted by Jonathan Waite at 10:00 AM
August 15, 2005
Wikipedia & Jamie Kane
Yesterday, the BBC Alternate Reality Game, Jamie Kane and the presumed viral marketing use of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, hit several popular weblogs including BoingBoing and Slashdot. Two entries were found, one for Jamie Kane and the other for the fictional band Boy^d Upp. Both entries presented the fictional characters as real entities and made no mention of the Alternate Reality Game. It was later discovered that the entry for Boy^d Upp originated from within the BBC.
The BBC and the authors of the entries have all spoken on the matter. The entries were created by fans of the game, neither of whom are affiliated with the Jamie Kane team or BBC Marketing in any official capacity. The entry for Jamie Kane has been drastically changed to reflect the true nature of Jamie Kane as a game. (original | current)
While this clearly shows the power and strength of Wikipedia (within hours, the entries had been edited to show factual and comprehensive information about the game), it has highlighted some of the concerns users face about trusting information online, even when that information comes from a trusted source. The articles are currently being reviewed for deletion under Wikipedia policy and it is our hope that the article for Jamie Kane is allowed to remain, not only to help point to the Alternate Reality Game but as a showcase for the strengths of community-edited encyclopedias.
Posted by Brooke Thompson at 1:35 PM
PXC Forums Come To Life, and a Scarlett Letter
A long-awaited addition to the Perplex City universe happened late last week when the site rolled out its in-game message forum area. Players have been busily discussing topics related to the puzzle cards that have been released so far, and new information has been added to the FAQ section.
As well, this past week included an email from in-game character Scarlett Kiteway to all players on her father's (Sente Kiteway) mailing list. The email was chock full of information about the death of Pietro Salk, who had been a reporter at the Perplex City Sentinel. Players were able to get Scarlett's take on the situation and were offered a spot on her mailing list.
As the PXC machine continues to chug along, you can catch updates at the Perplex City Updates blog as well as right here at ARGN.
Posted by Jonathan Waite at 12:40 PM
August 11, 2005
Beyond Reality Chat Rescheduled
Due to some technical difficulties, the online chat with Beyond Reality author John Gosney has had to be rescheduled. The new date and time are Sunday August 14th at 6:00 ET.
Posted by Jonathan Waite at 12:12 PM
August 9, 2005
AIM at the Wolf, Win Handsome Prizes!
We reported earlier about a text-messaging game related to the upcoming feature film Cry Wolf. Well, ARGN got a tip today about how you can get involved in the AIM-based 'instant-win game'. Register at this site to get in on the action, provided you have an AIM screenname and access to the AIM service on your handheld device/cell phone. The grand prize is a trip to Hollywood to hunt for a missing car. As we said in our earlier article, we have no idea where this will lead. However, after reading the offical rules, we're pretty confident that this is a sweepstakes only and not an ARG, per se.
In addition, there was another website address given in the tip for a completely different game, but still connected to the movie. Cry Wolf: The Game is a flash-based game pitting people against each other in an elimination-style cat-and-mouse game. The site includes tutorials in which the voice-over instructions, which are both simplistic and thorough, give you a good sense of how the game is played before you jump into it. Again, we're not implying that this would lead to anywhere ARGish, but it's a neat diversion and another interesting use of Internet technologies to promote a movie.
Posted by Jonathan Waite at 7:52 PM
Blitz: The League Launches Possible ARG
Another company jumps into the ARG marketing fray: Gamespot reports that Midway Games has launched an Alternate Reality Game to promote its upcoming game, Blitz: The League. In addition to the main site, there are also BlitzNewz and Red Dog Down. While some hardcore ARGers have expressed disappointment with the simplicity of the puzzles, it's possible that things could heat up down the road.
Discussion at Unfiction.
Posted by Dee Cook at 4:06 PM
August 6, 2005
Jamie Kane Goes Live
Jamie Kane, the Alternate Reality Game designed by the BBC, has moved out of beta stage and officially launched yesterday. According to the Jamie Kane website, players can get involved in in the 'part game, part drama, part murder mystery' through various methods, including finding clues in message boards and emails, and interacting with characters with a proprietary Instant Messaging system. There is even a cell phone interactive component for ARGonauts living in the UK.
Posted by Jonathan Waite at 7:03 AM
August 4, 2005
Spontaneous Theater
Via Metafilter comes an interesting link about spontaneous theater, a concept being developed by UCF professor Jeff Wirth, among others.
In interactive theater, the audience is just as much a part of the action as the actors, and could actually be considered an extension of the cast itself. Honolulu's Pure Theatre group (formerly Cruel Theatre) provided different scenarios to the 5 audience members, giving them an identifiable costume and a part to play.
Taking it to another level, a 25 member troupe of 'interactors' in Orlando recently devised and produced an entire four day interactive narrative custom-tailored for Kurt Bauerle, a local lawyer.
"And through it all, Bauerle/Parker – the only player not in on the narrative's basic structure – had to make behavioral choices that would determine the course of the adventure. However he elected to respond to any given situation, the interactors had to go with it – though some choices would clearly make their job easier than others."
Interestingly, both performance groups assigned a fictional identity to the audience member or members. Equally interesting is the fact that Jeff Wirth has worked in the past with Haxan Films' Mike Monello, who most recently was involved in Audi's Art of the Heist ARG. Art of the Heist also used elements of interactive narrative, or spontaneous theater, in its real-life events where the ARG players interacted with the game characters.
While having a game individually custom-tailored to ones' tastes is probably out of the league of most people (unless your last name is Van Orton), it's important to note that the concept of more interactivity between cast and audience appears to be a growing and viable trend.
Posted by Dee Cook at 9:43 PM
August 3, 2005
The Laramie Project - Charity ARG Event
Starting August 6th, gamers will have the chance to participate in a 24-hour ARG in conjunction with Blogathon 2005.
The ARG is based around Gillian Laramie, leader of the Interred Technology Council, who recently escaped from prison where she was serving time for murder. Last seen in the York area, this places her, perhaps coincidently, where many of her former lieutenants relocated. Players, together with her former employees, will go for a crazy 24-hour spree to hunt down and stop Gillian from attacking again.
Though the ARG is, as usual, free, the authors are running the game for charity in support of the Multiple Sclerosis Trust UK. Players are asked to put forth a donation in support of the Blogathon charity event. So far, the ARG has already raised $105.00 for the Trust.
Please support this Blogathon 2005 ARG effort and enjoy the ride as ARGs take another step towards mainstream in the support of charity organizations.
Discussion at Unfiction
Trailhead
Blogathon 2005
Posted by Jackie Kerr at 4:05 PM
The EVA Project
Got this in the ARGN inbox a couple of days ago:
On July 31, 2005, an unknown assailant executed a highly orchestrated disruption of the EVA Project Orientation seminar.In what could be considered a hostile attack, this individual employed guerilla tactics and advanced technology to sabotage the event and seize the critical EVA Core.
EVA Project technologist Shakuhachi Muromachi is also missing and wanted for questioning.
Please visit http://eva.unvirtual.com/ for more details.
If you have any information regarding the identity of the perpetrator, the location of the EVA Core, or the whereabouts of Dr. Muromachi, we ask for your immediate assistance.
Please contact URI or visit the EVA Project site for more information.
EVA Project
http://eva.unvirtual.com/Unvirtual Realities, Inc.
415-820-1590Your tips will be completely confidential.
We found information about Project EVA on UnFiction and we assume that this must be related.
Posted by Jonathan Waite at 11:29 AM
August 2, 2005
Orbital Colony’s Stellar Launch
The long-awaited Orbital Colony took off last week with a stealthy launch during ARGFest NYC. Attendees of the convention found, within their welcome envelopes, a rather bizarre credit card advertisement that promised to send their credit "into outer space!"
The embedded puzzle (what? of course there was an embedded puzzle!) led players to the Orbicon Corporation, a company dedicated to the noble task of building a space elevator and bringing humanity to the stars. They’re holding a “Name that Rock!” contest, so if you want to get involved, why not enter? There might even be a few rock puns that haven’t yet been made.
Initially envisioned as a training ground for new PMs, Orbital Colony appears to have grown into a full-fledged ARG sometime during its two years of development. The project’s meta page has more information on its unusual history.
Discussion at Unfiction
Wiki
Chat (irc) in #orbital
Posted by Yulia Mostovoy at 7:18 PM
Seen Steve "Implodes"
Seen Steve, the parody ARG, wrapped up over the ARGFest weekend in the only possible manner that it could: it "imploded".
Players gathered in the #seensteve chat room, waiting for the final game timer to reach zero, when the PM (or PhooMaster) joined the room and announced the game was over as he had "homework and stuff" to do. But before he left, he gave players one last puzzle hidden in the final flash - a puzzle which would lead players to the Project Phoo FAQ and would reveal the identity of the PM.
That PM was none other than unFiction's own Ehsan, who had previously made the Soogees Trail. His original concept was to create a small blog leading to a recruitment request to create a larger game in the future. Instead, the game took on a life of its own and turned into a parody. However, his original purpose still exists, and he is currently looking for anyone who believes they can contribute to a collaborative ARG.
When all was said and done, Seen Steve had close to 20 specific games it parodied and it spawned a massive 25 page thread over the course of its two week run. The game managed to capture the essence of the ARGs we all know and love. And, despite its "lame" launch and later "meltdown", Seen Steve still had a high standard of quality usually reserved games created by larger, experienced PM teams. The only real complaint about the game is that it might allow other wannabe PMs to go "Well, if he can create such a great game on the fly, then so can we."
So, if you've always wanted to help in an ARG, but felt you didn't have the necessary qualifications to help run an entire game, now is your chance. Visit the Project Phoo website to read more about the project, and if you have what it takes, sign up, and help create the next great ARG (or at least the next best learning experience).
Posted by Carie Ward at 1:45 PM
Update on PXC Puzzle Cards
Perplex City players were sent an email from in-game character Sente Kiteway earlier today, giving a heads-up to the registered player base that the puzzle cards (which have been sold in select stores across the world for the past few weeks) are now available for online ordering at Firebox. The email talked about a bonus for the first 100 people who order, but it is unknown whether that limit has been met or not.
Posted by Jonathan Waite at 11:12 AM
Akalesh Ascendant
Keen observer Chippy at Unfiction found a new sponsored link when doing a Google search for ARG today. Akalesh Ascendant is a META website for a new ARG coming in February of 2006, according to the site. While nothing is known (at least by us) about the company behind the game (Dark Element), the Flash-based website has a slick quality to it (even though the navigation is still a bit wonky).
The site has an Egyptian theme to it, complete with a catchy music loop. Dark Element is billing the game as "what some call an ARG and others call immersive fiction" and includes a sign-up form for anyone wishing to stay informed. There has already been a puzzle found on the site.
Posted by Jonathan Waite at 10:50 AM