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April 23, 2008

Beyond the Rave: Humans vs Vampires

Filmmaker Lance Weiler, who recently promoted the VOD release of his film Head Trauma alongside an alternate reality game called Hope is Missing, was kind enough to talk with me about his current project, Beyond the Rave. For the first time in almost 30 years, Hammer Films is releasing a feature-length horror movie, and Lance and his company, Seize the Media, are producing a companion alternate reality game in conjunction with Hammer and MySpace.

The feature will be released in twenty installments on MySpace, with new episodes every Monday and Wednesday. The plot revolves around a British soldier trying to find his girlfriend who was taken by a group of vampiric, night-time ravers. According to Weiler, the game aspect is broken down into two paths, with hints and clues strewn across the videos and MySpace: "Find the Wraith," based around the movie's vampire-centric plot, and "Humans vs Vampires," a combat-based system that allows players to hunt down weapons and trophies, and battle to increase their collection.

In stark contrast to "Hope is Missing," where the gameplay led players through a variety of websites such as MySpace, XBox Live, Twitter, Stage 6, and Opera, "Beyond the Rave" is much more centralized. Lance claims this allows the developers to take advantage of the MySpace Developer's Platform in order to receive finite information on gameplay that helps the team optimize the experience, and suggests we'll be seeing a lot of innovative uses of the underlying API.

Bringing alternate reality games to social networking sites has exposed the genre to new audiences, with over three hundred players discussing the game so far on the MySpace forums and over 14,000 users listing the main page for the experience as a friend. Due to mature content, access to the videos and the game is restricted to anyone 18 or older.

Lance notes that bringing alternate reality games to social networks can also help bring people together. On their own, social networking sites let you set up a page, deal with your friends, and occasionally meet a new person randomly. "What's cool about an ARG is the ability to work through things together, and to become friends." Since Beyond the Rave has multiple levels of interactivity, players can choose the level of involvement that suits their interests, whether that involves leaning back and enjoying the first new movie from Hammer Films in decades, or progressing through the videos frame-by-frame to isolate subliminal clues leading to websites that can provide weapons helpful in battling for supremacy.

For those of you looking for prizes, you can answer twenty questions about the episodes on Faustino's profile for a chance to win "a truly vampiric top prize" or one of forty goody bags.

Click Here to visit the Beyond the Rave page on MySpace.
Click Here to check out the MySpace forums for the game.
Click Here to join the chat channel for Beyond the Rave.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 5:50 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2008

A-Mazing Event in San Francisco

When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. --R.A.H.

Over fifty people gathered at Sutro Heights Park in San Francisco this past Sunday to practice the ancient sport of "Labyrinth Running" which, according to the recently-launched Alternate Reality Game, "Find the Lost Ring," was lost in 393 A.D. when Theodoseus banned the Olympic Games. Find the Lost Ring is an ARG designed to promote the upcoming Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, China in August, and is sponsored by the McDonald's Corporation. It officially launched on March 3, 2008, shortly after trailhead clue packages were received by various ARGonauts and media sites.

The ARG is conducted in several languages and has gained popularity all over the planet. It was reported that at least two other training events were taking place that day in other parts of the world, including in Brazil, which country holds one of the largest interested groups of players of this game that isn't a game. It is scheduled to run through to the closing ceremonies of the Olympics on August 24, 2008.

Although the event was organized by two players, Tom Bullock (aka Ariock) and Lenore Henry (aka hmrpita), it was also acknowledged by the game, and an in-game character named Kai announced early that he would attend the practice run. Lead designer and avant-gamer Jane McGonigal also appeared at the event and offered to help organize and referee the training.

Labyrinth Running requires a team consisting of one blindfolded person who will attempt to escape from the center of the labyrinth to the outside, the "Runner," and several people to form the path through which the Runner will pass, called the "Walls." Since the Runner is blindfolded, the Walls must lead him or her out using auditory cues without speaking. Humming is the preferred method and those Walls in front of the Runner will do so while those Walls the Runner has already passed will silence their hum so as not to mislead the Runner. Once he or she has passed by a Wall, that team member must run around to the tail of the line of Wall members and form up again.

There are generally less Wall members than would be required to line the entire circuit of the labyrinth, so they must constantly shift the covered section of the labyrinth down the line to keep up with the Runner. This can be quite challenging with a fast Runner, prompting a good deal of frantic dashing and laughter as Walls collide. The entire group wins when the Runner successfully completes the circuit without breaking through or crossing over a Wall line and without getting turned around and heading back into the center of the maze. Walls are forbidden from merely directing the Runner out, hence the humming, and cannot give clues if the Runner starts going the wrong way. "No coughing," admonished McGonigal.

Players began arriving in the park in the early afternoon and, using chalk and lengths of rope or twine that were knotted at consistent intervals, laid out two three-circuit labyrinths and one gigantic one with seven circuits. Once they were drawn, the group was split into two and each half began practicing techniques, and trying to determine their fastest Runners, on the smaller circuits.

"It was tough finding a good spot to be responsible with a bunch of people running around blindfolded," said Henry. The event had originally been planned to be held in Golden Gate Park but a concert for Earth Day put the kibosh on that idea. She found the spot, which had a beautiful view and great weather. An alternate location she had considered was in the Palace of Fine Arts.

Both organizers agreed it was also important to have at least one person available who had experience in laying out a labyrinth, in order to speed along the process of setting up.

Jane McGonigal, design lead for the ARG, was pleased at the turnout and agreed heartily that the event was a success. "I learned so much about the game from other people thinking of new strategies and new techniques. It's awesome."

New strategies doped out during the day's runs included a suggestion by Seth Ball, aka Cineball, that Walls at the pivot points of turnabouts hum louder and track around the pivot as the Runner passed by, and hopefully around, them. This reporter also suggested that wall members at the outside end of the line hold up their hands so that other Walls could easily locate the correct direction to run. It was confusing at times determining where to go during the furious action, especially when Running the larger seven-circuit labyrinth.

Runs were timed by players who had brought stopwatches or had timer applications on their cell phones or PDAs. Fastest times were recorded for both circuit sizes and since the seven-circuit labyrinth had not yet been attempted by players anywhere, the latter times were considered by attendees to be World Records. On the smaller circuits, records were set by TheAdam at 22 seconds, DavFlamerock with 29 seconds, and Lex, a gentleman visiting from Holland with his wife, who scored an even 30 seconds. On the larger circuit, Lex blew away the competition with a fastest time of two minutes and 30 seconds, followed by TheAdam and DavFlamerock tied for second place with two minutes and 58 seconds.

Termed a "huge success" by Bullock, "It was good to see so many enthusiastic runners."

"I had a blast!" agreed Ball. He also offered advice to other players who wanted to try this out, such as checking locally for events, keeping an eye on Yahoo! Upcoming, or just going for it and organizing their own group practice run.

The organizers even brought treats enough for those who had signed up on the event announcement at Yahoo! Upcoming. Maple-bacon cupcakes were a huge hit, according to Bullock, who obtained them from the Cups and Cakes Bakery. Said co-organizer Lenore Henry, aka hmrpita, "Anyway, this cake is great. It's so delicious and moist."

Live events are Jane McGonigal's favorite part of Alternate Reality Gaming, who enjoys gathering large groups together in one space to collaborate in real-time. Her techniques often encourage friendly physical contact between strangers, as with the Wall members wrapping their arms around their neighbors to solidify the line. "Isn't it great that you don't even think about it? You're so in the moment that you just hug everyone."

One attendee named A.J. Margolis was the first woman to run a seven-circuit labyrinth in modern times according to McGonigal. Margolis only learned of the event through the SF-based blog, Laughing Squid, not having really followed the Lost Ring. She enjoyed the non-competitive nature of the labyrinth run. "I'm not too into the game aspect, I just like doing random, absurd things with interesting people."

All photos © Sean C. Stacey, Used with Permission.

Posted by Sean C. Stacey at 2:34 PM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2008

Alternate Reality Gaming Meets the Adult Entertainment Industry with Kronos480BC

WARNING: SOME LINKS IN THIS ARTICLE MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK

Earlier this month, Sean Stacey over at Despoiler received a tip about a new alternate reality game, Kronos480BC. The game is part of a campaign created by the public relations firm Black and Blue Media, presumably to promote the summer release of The Four, an adult feature film by Ninn Worx SR.

Given the rather explicit nature of the product Kronos480BC is promoting, it is surprising to note that the alternate reality game itself is anything but. As the game's disclaimer explains, "[a]lthough the story line and rewards in Kronos480BC are not explicit in nature, the product itself is." The disclaimer elaborates that players above the age of 18 are eligible to play for rewards such as postcards, magnets, stickers, and free ring tones. Although the game seems light on puzzles at the moment, there is an extensive backstory in place going back several years.

The story of Kronos480BC revolves around the search for an ancient necklace. Agamemnon Cronides claims the necklace, dating back to 480BC, is a family heirloom. He has enlisted the aid of Roberta "Bobbie" Hope, an archaeologist with the Hope Ranch Foundation, to find it.

Over the past year at ARGNet, I've covered campaigns promoting a fairly diverse range of products including books, television shows, movies, beer, and even heavy machinery. So I can't really say that I'm surprised to find an alternate reality game promoting pornography. But I can say that I am impressed with their treatment of the campaign so far. While the subject matter relates to the plot of the upcoming film, the production staff made a conscious decision to eschew attracting players through titillation, prefering to rely on the strength of the story.

Click Here for the UnFiction discussion thread.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:32 AM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2008

A Call for Help: Folding the Wish

As ARG players, we often receive cries of help from mysterious strangers. Over the years, people in this community have banded together to help these strangers no matter what the task. We've found missing loved ones. We've defeated dangerous cults. We've saved the world countless number of times.

This time it isn't a mysterious stranger who needs our help, but one of our very own community members. Dave Szulborski, puppetmaster of countless ARGs over the years including Chasing the Wish and Urban Hunt, has recently fallen ill and will be undergoing treatment for the next several weeks.

So what can you do? Fold him a wish.

There is an ancient Japanese legend that says that anyone who receives one thousand paper cranes will be granted one wish. A few community members have been furiously folding cranes and we need your help.

How to fold a wish:

1. Find a square piece of paper.

2. Write your well wishes for Dave on the paper.

3. Use the paper to make a paper crane.

4. Stick the crane in the mail. Email varin[at]foldingthewish.com for the mailing address.

We will be stringing the cranes together and sending them to Dave by May 2nd. If for some reason you cannot make your own crane or won't be able to get it to us in time, we will make one for you. Just email us your wish for Dave. We'll also be compiling a list of the wishes for Dave to read so that he doesn't have to actually unfold all one thousand cranes to read them. So please be sure to let us know what your wish is if it's hidden inside the crane.

Check www.foldingthewish.com for updates on the project.

Posted by Michelle Senderhauf at 1:58 AM | Comments (2)

GMD Studios Stalked by Cricket; Eldritch Gifts Prompt Response from PuppetMaster

On April 16, 2007, mysterious packages began finding their way into the hands of unsuspecting people about to be lured into a world of dreamscapes, nightmares, madness, and death. The contents of the packages led to a network of dreamers, reaching out for help to dwellers in the mundane world. The Dreamers found willing listeners and clever helpers in several internet communities. Together, these Good Samaritans became Sentries; became Providence; watched helplessly as several friends left them, one by one; embarked on a journey together to find answers; and then waited together in the darkness when, at the last, all contact with their friends was lost as the signal faded out nine weeks ago.

The Eldritch Errors ARG, produced by GMD Studios, gathered a strong following of players from its launch in 2007 into its third "book" in 2008. In February, at what was supposed to be the climax of the game's third installment in February, the game's momentum faltered. The day for the promised climax passed in silence. After realizing that the game was on hold indefinitely for reasons unknown, frustrated players created a space for venting and even "uncovered" an obituary for one of the game's characters, in hopes of eliciting some comment from GMD.

On Monday, April 14, two days before the game's one-year anniversary, a person using the alias of Mr. Cricket visited the GMD Studios offices, leaving a drawing of a cricket taped to the door. On Tuesday, Mr. Cricket visited again, this time leaving a dog collar - with the nametag of "Providence" - hanging from GMD's doorknob. On Wednesday, the game's anniversary, Mr. Cricket returned a third time to draw a familiar mark in colored chalks upon GMD's doorstep.

While it's unclear whether Mr. Cricket's gifts, the game's anniversary or other factors helped bring about a break in the nine-week silence, Brian Clark of GMD Studios posted a penitent entry to the Schmeldritch blog on Wednesday morning. He writes, "When clients ask me why I'm wearing a dog collar with a tag labeled 'Providence,' I'll explain to them that some really important people wanted to remind me that my clients are taking me away from what I'm supposed to be doing." He seems to take the activities of Mr. Cricket in good humor, claiming they "barely felt like stalking at all!" At the end of the blog, he hints at a revival of the game and also pudding.

GMD Studios' latest blog entry on the company website sheds some light on the project that whisked the GMD team away from their Lovecraftian creation and out to Detroit, where they have been working with Ford Motor Company to help design part of Ford's new marketing initiative, Drive One. Ford's latest marketing campaign presents a series of webisodes that aim to give viewers multifaceted insight into the company's design, engineering, and manufacturing processes. The Wall Street Journal reports that Drive One "includes online and viral elements as well as television and print advertising." Viral elements, hmmm.

So, now that the mysterious doings in Detroit are wrapped up and no longer shrouded in secrecy, will Eldritch Errors rise from its grave and carry on its series of engaging stories? Players remain watchful, ever ready to provide their PuppetMasters with loving prods of encouragement. Rumor has it that Mr. Cricket will be keeping an especially close eye on GMD's activities in the meantime.

Posted by Brandie Minchew at 1:49 AM | Comments (1)

April 16, 2008

RUMOR: An ARG for Resistance 2?

Last week, the staff at Kombo posted a rumor attributed to "inside sources" that 42 Entertainment is developing an alternate reality game for Resistance 2, the sequel to the Playstation 3 title Resistance: Fall of Man. Although 42 Entertainment offered no comment on the rumor, the company has a solid track record of developing alternate reality games for sequels, including campaigns for The Dark Knight and Halo 2.

According to the article at Kombo, the casting call intimates "Cassie" will be central to the campaign. The release states:

[CASSIE] is a 23-30 years old female lead and face of the campaign. Cassie was recruited by the military to do psychological testing on the soldiers. We see the project and its volunteers through her eyes as she struggles to make decisions that not only affect their lives, but the future of mankind. She embodies the moral dilemma of the story. Scene takes place in a Military setting of the 1950's. It is an all-male world. She has a 'Mitzi Gaynor' quality, intelligent, well spoken, compelling and empathetic. She has a PH D in psychology.

The original game, Resistance: Fall of Man, followed Sgt. Nathan Hale as he faces an army of aliens called Chimera in the 1950s. This alternate history sets an intriguing stage for an alternate reality game, presumably allowing players to reach back to the past to interact. Its alternate history status also makes it easier for me to disassociate the name Nathan Hale from that of the Revolutionary soldier famous for saying "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country".

The article claims the alternate reality game will run for twelve weeks. And while an official release date has not been announced for Resistance 2, it is rumored to have a November 2008 release date, so keep your eyes peeled for this potential game over the summer.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 12:22 AM

April 13, 2008

Harvey Dent Press Conference Today

The latest in The Dark Knight promotion is upon us. Today at 3:00 EDT, the I Believe in Harvey Dent campaign will be streaming a live press conference on their website. The email announcement says in part:

Everyone who knows Harvey Dent knows that the vicious smears by a mysterious group calling itself "Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham" are not true. Harvey Dent is innocent of these charges, and the truth will triumph.

Harvey Dent believes that the movement to take back Gotham is bigger than one person. It's never been about Harvey Dent. It's about our hopes for our city. It's about you.

Harvey Dent has always said that if he becomes a distraction from the bigger issues of the movement to fight crime and corruption, he'll make the best decision for the movement itself.

We've done a lot in the last few months. We've shown the city that we will not stop fighting against the dark forces that have Gotham in their grasp. We showed everyone that we do have power. That there is hope for Gotham City.

If past events are any indication, it's clear this will be more than just a press conference. Tune in to see what happens.

Posted by Marie Lamb at 12:04 PM | Comments (1)

April 4, 2008

Having a Ball with the Joker

On March 26th, a new chapter in the Dark Knight alternate reality game began, as the cell phones that some had received inside a tasty, Joker-commissioned treat -- phones that some figured may never ring again -- sprang to life. A text message read: "Hey clown! Long time, no crime spree! Well, put on your floppy shoes and answer this question: are you ready to get to work?"  For those brave enough to text back, answering in the affirmative, the reward was a second text: "Glad to see you're still alive and kicking. I'll be in touch before Poisson D'Avril"

A quick Google reveals "Poisson D'Avril" to be, literally, "April Fish" in French. Poisson D'Avril is also the French equivalent of April Fools.  This gave the indication that something Jokerish was about to occur, prior to April Fools!

The phones went active again on March 30th, but this time, with a call from an actual person instead of a text message.  The recipients were informed that they were one of 17 "clowns" remaining, and each were given a letter to remember and report to the rest of the "clowns" (for example, "'E' as in Elephant").  Sixteen other letters were given to the remaining clowns, which led to a new web site being discovered -- Clown Travel Agency.  The site was simple in design, with only a suitcase adorned with stickers from several worldwide destinations, and an envelope which stated "Departure Date: 4-01".

Two days later, April 1st dawned and players the world over waited anxiously for the promised update, which came later in the day in the form of a new image on the web site of a now-open envelope. Upon clicking the paper inside, a note from the Joker was revealed, which read, "Ready to have a ball? A special bag of fun awaits the first to claim it, but you'd better strike fast, there's no time to spare!" Hmmm... Anyone else notice something about the choice of words there? "Ball", "strike", "spare" - anyone in the mood for some bowling?

Clicking the note revealed a list of cities, twenty-eight in all, from all over the world - the United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Canada, and the United States, matching the stickers on the suitcase. At first, only the first few of the actual addresses were listed, along with instructions such as "Ask for 'Twitchy' at Reception" or a series of numbers that appeared to be a locker combination. Further investigation revealed that the drop sites were, as suspected, bowling alleys, and as the "bags of fun" were acquired, passport-like stamps appeared next to the drop sites on the list. Approximately every hour, a couple more drop sites and instructions were revealed.

Looking over the list to see if I could become involved in this one (I missed out on the cake drop, which was sad -- I love cake!), I noticed there was a drop in Chula Vista, and my friend Google told me there was only one bowling alley there. It was towards the bottom of the list so I knew it would be several hours before the actual address and instructions would be revealed. However, discussion in both the chat channel and the Unforum thread were indicating that the drop sites were being discovered and staked out hours in advance. I found out, at 10:30AM PDT, that several people had already staked out the Chula Vista location, which meant that there was no reason for me to go there - someone else had already beaten me to the drop, even though the actual address and details of the drop were hours away. In the cities where there was only one bowling alley, determining the drop site was fairly easy. For cities with multiple possible drop sites, people were apparently calling bowling alleys and asking about the drops -- if the person answering the phone said "I can't talk about it", they knew that was the location.

Given the popularity of the campaign, the collectibles were highly sought after by fans of the movie and players of the ARG alike. Unfortunately, amid the excitement of the day, reports of what some might consider to be unfair play trickled in. In Phoenix, the swag bag supposedly never made it into the locker, given instead to a friend of an employee of the alley before pickup details were even posted. In Kingston, MA, Unfiction administrator xnbomb reported that several people were in place at an alley, and at the expected time (3PM) the details were released. However, the person that got to the bag first literally grabbed it and ran without letting anyone else see or take pictures of the content. And, in Portland, the bag was apparently either picked up by someone working for a local radio program, or the person who obtained it gave it to the radio program -- who promptly posted it for sale on eBay... for THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS! As of this writing, the eBay listing is still up, but has been dropped to a mere ten thousand dollars, with one bidder - and a note from the sellers that if the items don't sell, they'll drop the ball on the phone until it shatters.

Thankfully, there were many reports from lucky recipients who were in the sharing mood. From those reports, such as this post by dingleberry96 at the Unforums, we can see that the bags contained a bowling ball with a phone number engraved on it, a cell phone similar to the ones found in the cakes, another Joker card, and a note from the Joker imploring the recipient to call the number on the ball from the phone. Calling the number was the indicator that the drop had been picked up, and soon thereafter the location was stamped on the drop list on the web site.

Once all the drops had been acquired, the drop list "burned" and revealed another note from the Joker, instructing the "clowns" to go to www.acmesecuritysystems.com/delos and, using the password "needle", disable an alarm system. Of course I played along, and after some initial difficulty in getting the site to load, I was greeted with a login screen asking for a name, phone number, and email address. Upon submitting, my phone number was called, whereupon I was supposed to say the password. However, before I could, the call was intercepted by none other than Lt. (Soon-to-be Commissioner?) Gordon, informing me that the jig was up -- the poilce had my phone number, my computer's IP address, and basically, ME -- and I could either consider myself Gotham PD's newest recruit or go to jail as a conspirator in a crime organization. Along with the phone call, the Acme Security Page displayed a banner stating that my identity had been captured and logged as evidence. Awesome! I'm now a member of , as Ecks51 so aptly put it, "the few, the corrupt, the Gotham PD"! Of course, two words come to mind - APRIL FOOLS!

So... in a meta sense, was this a way to move the story away from the Joker (bad guy) and more towards Harvey Dent/Commissioner Gordon (good guys?)? The waiting game begins again, as we anticipate the next time that the new Joker/Gordon phones ring again, and wonder about who will be on the other end when they do.

Posted by Celina Beach at 6:48 PM | Comments (1)

April 1, 2008

OMG Hax0rz!!!

Imagine my surprise today, after a nice (albeit short) family vacation, to get back into the swing of things in the alternate reality gaming universe, only to find out that... we've been hacked? Well, that is what happened, according to a Digg entry we were, um conveniently linked to via a game tip. And what goes on Digg must be truth, of course.

Actually, the only truth is the fact that it's April 1st. In the past, we've done our share of April Fool's Day pranking. Heck, we've enjoyed the various Unfiction mock-ups we've been a part of, and as far as comedy goes, who can forget my stellar writing and Sean C. Stacey's award-winning artwork for No Strings Attached? So, we think we know funny, and today's idle report of an hackjob-that-wasn't by a semi-prepared puppetmaster wannabe suave individual wasn't really that funny. Maybe it's the sour grapes talking, but being part of the joke without being in on the joke seems... lame.

We've decided not to link to anything related to this sham -- Google is your friend -- but rest assured, we weren't hacked, and there were no well-timed AdSense advertisements on the site today. As for the person behind the Digg post and the Unforums thread... thumbs up for the awesome trailhead!

Thanks to Jackie Kerr for her contributions to this article.

Posted by Jonathan Waite at 8:21 PM | Comments (1)