So I’m sitting at work when up pops an AIM chat window from itstarted1988. His greeting to me is this: “they speak you listen. Of the Psycaem. You can look forward to games. To your satisfaction, perhaps not… A man, a woman, a line drawn. Not a shepard. Not a shepard. 1988.” In basic ARGer fashion, I go with it, and thus begins the trailhead for “Love Nevr Dies“[sic], another hostage-arg, with a name coined from the dark, creepy artistic design found at MySpace to which players were initially directed.
Author: Geoff May (Page 4 of 4)
Staff Writer
Also known as 'thebruce', Geoff is a full time professional web and datasystems developer who was introduced to the world of ARGs when a mysterious website flashed at the end of Halo's theatrical preview trailer - ilovebees.com - the trailhead for the viral marketing campaign for Bungie's Halo 2. Taken in by the mystery and intrigue, Geoff became an avid member of the ARG community, and has spent untold hours of his life in it ever since. His involvement in the community had him converted to an ARGer, and granted moderatorial status at Unfiction. He also began a website that would eventually become a high activity portal for ARG wikis and news at Wikibruce.com. Geoff is a lover of science fiction, movies, volleyball, art and photography, and is also an avid musician. And while now over 30 years of age, he still takes public transit everywhere he goes... because he hasn't yet made the effort to get a driver's license or car. Hey, at least he can say he's environmentally aware.
Geoff owns and runs Wikibruce.com - a source for ARG wikis and news, and 4DFiction.com - a resource for thoughts and articles on transmedia, storytelling, and ARGs.
Imagine:
Little Timmy’s at home on a warm Saturday afternoon, playing away the time with his brand new Optimus Prime transformer and a few of his partners in crime, like Ironhide, Ratchet, and Bumblebee. Timmy’s got some Decepticons, too — Megatron, Barricade, and Starscream — and he has buckets of fun imitating the sepulchral voice of the villains while his toys battle it out for the fate of the galaxy! Hardly an uncommon scene, Unfiction member b_dann_b relates: “I am a loyal fan of the transformers – watched them since I was born and will always remember the day my dad brought me an optimus prime toy as my first transformer.”
But little does Timmy know how close to the truth he is. Those toys Timmy’s playing with, those cartoons he loves to watch, even that lunch pail he carries around daily with the lunch his mother prepared for him…all of it is a cover-up. Far from being mere fictional entertainment, it’s counter-information, with the sole purpose of distracting us from the truth by hiding it in front of our very eyes. And that live-action Transformers movie that you’ve certainly heard about, slated for a July release? That’s part of it too.
Editor’s Note: Big thanks to Geoff May for contributing this article about the recently-launched Dr. Pepper marketing campaign. Geoff is a former ARGNet staff writer, and we are thankful for this timely article.
Is there a drink you’d be willing to purchase and drink for a full month to get the chance to win up to $1,000,000? What if it weren’t a matter of chance, but of skill and problem solving?
Recently, Cadbury Schweppes PLC ran a marketing campaign for the Dr.Pepper brand that would take its followers potentially to every corner of North America (and beyond), both physically and virtually. Dr.Pepper’s “The Hunt For More” campaign could be considered a great success, though YMMV. Following the marketing theme of Dr.Pepper’s unique 23 flavored pop, the ‘Hunt’ campaign would get people all over the US and Canada hunting down 23 physical coins for guaranteed $$$ – ultimately ending in a flurry of controversial press.
Over the course of 30 days from Jan 21 to Feb 21, Dr.Pepper bottles were disappearing off shelves faster than usual, making it a hunt in itself to find them before they disappeared, and not every store carrying the brand had the specially labeled bottles. It was a frantic race for players to have a unique code in their possession every day, and it was a lot of pop to drink.
The clue portion of the hunt was very much a game of skill. There was no luck involved or random draw – just be the first to either find your region’s physical coin, or report the location of the virtual one. To balance this game of skill, players were also given the option to use the code not to retrieve a clue, but for a chance to win an instant prize.
subtext game
escape rooms
simulacra
curators request
welcome home
postcurious