Author: Jane Doh (Page 4 of 9)

Staff Writer

Jane Doh is the online gaming persona of an otherwise ordinary person. Jane has a particular love for grassroots and independent projects, especially those run out of basements and breakfast nooks, and is working on several creative projects of her own.

ARGs 101: ARGNet Owner Featured on The Digital Cowboys Podcast

August 27, 2010 / Jane Doh

Since 2007, The Digital Cowboys, with lively hosts Alex and Tony, have aired weekly podcasts on gaming, and this week ARGNet’s own Michael Andersen was their featured guest. Covering both past games and current campaigns, The Digital Cowboys Episode 166 is a must-listen for anyone interested in ARGs.

Newcomers should find the interview a particularly useful introduction to playing alternate reality games because it features an in-depth look at how to join the ARG-playing community and also a systematic discussion ofÂ the slang we tend to take for granted. Â Old-timers might appreciate the laughs, especially as Michael gives his personal take on some of the best and the worst of the genre and as the Digital Cowboys try to wrestle with some of the crazy things ARG players and creators do . . . for fun.

SCVNGR: Now Playing, Somewhere Near You!

August 17, 2010 / Jane Doh

A relative newcomer to smartphone location-based gaming, SCVNGR is taking the United States by storm and threatens to shake up the geo-location game market. Similar to games like Gowalla or Foursquare, players use their smartphones to check in at locations. Unlike anything else on the market, however, SCVNGR players are presented with location-specific “challenges” that they can complete to earn points.

SCVNGR tasks might be a riddle, a dare, a question, or more, and they are customized precisely for the location. For example, I checked in to my nearby police precinct (No, I was not in handcuffs), and, in addition to the usual “Say something here” functionality common to the other geo-location smartphone games, SCVNGR offered me a few tasks related to law enforcement. It asked me what my favorite constitutional amendment was (Duh, the Fifth!), and in “The Swords & Scales” challenge I was asked to pose as Lady Justice and upload the picture. (Hm, yes well, the zip ties were a problem.)

Originally SCVNGR focused on larger institutions, launching with games created by the US Army and Princeton University. Now, a year after launching, SCVNGR boasts an impressive partner list of over 600 institutions, including universities, museums, and retail stores. SCVNGR is not just a forward-facing game, it is also a development platform, allowing institutions to purchase a number of challenges to customize and then providing them with a web-based application to create challenges. This means that third-party adventure creators and team-building event consultants, likeÂ Scaventures, can also tie themselves into the incredibly accessible platform.

The Earthly Frames’ Debut Album Invites Remixing and Chaotic Fiction-Making

August 12, 2010 / Jane Doh

The Earthly Frames is a one-man band from Maryland spawned from the mind of web game developer Gabriel Walsh. Combining live guitar and vocals with samples from country, folk, and pop music, Walsh’s sound is a thick, heavy, and brooding experience pierced with beautifully melodic moments. Earthly Frames, Volume 1, is an album only available on custom USB drives throughÂ Perhaps Transparent Records.Â More than an album, though, the limited-edition custom USB drive contains the elements of a true piece of chaotic fiction in the making.Â In an interview with music blogger Lightning Fay, Walsh admits that this debut release from The Earthly Frames is a first attempt at exploring “ways a band and fiction or concept art could interesect.”

Each custom USB drive contains the five songs in The Earthly Frames, Volume 1, as well as samples (loop AIF files and RX2s) free to use in your own music. In addition, each drive contains a unique “fragment” file, which could range from images to PowerPoint Presentations to text files and more. Together, the files form some kind of chaotic uber-narrative, bringing together real and unreal elements of the somewhat autobiographical, certainly mysterious story of the origin of The Earthly Frames. Participants are encouraged to share the fragment files at a forum at Perhaps Transparent Records. There are already a few fragments posted for viewing and use.

Dastardly We Lost Our Gold Pirates Start Revealing Location of Misplaced Booty

August 1, 2010 / Jane Doh

The We Lost Our Gold treasure hunt has begun in earnest with the first episode of the weekly web series released today. As ARGNet reported last month, these absent-minded pirates buried their treasure of ten thousand gold-colored US dollar coins somewhere in New York City but can’t remember where they hid it. This eight-part web series will contain clues to the location of the pirate’s chest, and whoever finds it, keeps it.

Episode One introduces some vital information about the possible location of the chest, as the crew tries to retrace their steps through New York, beginning with the Balto Statue in Central Park, then on to locations like “Cape Shakespeare” and “Columbus Rock.” Meanwhile, the pirate-and-ninja crew struggles to find a way to prevent spies from learning too much by using codes, including “Morris” code and Japanese numbers. A series of interrupted flashbacks provide key background information about the crew and its unlikely journey through the Big Apple. The episodes to come will continue to piece together the crew’s journey through New York City, presumably ending with the final location of the pirate booty.

Amid Controversy, Echo Bazaar Will Soon Bring Fallen London to Facebook

July 29, 2010 / Jane Doh

Failbetter Games‘ casual browser-based gameÂ Echo Bazaar is coming to Facebook.Â Described inÂ The Guardian as “a beautifully moody and lusciously written faux-Victorian game,”Â Echo Bazaar takes place in an alternative 19th-century London that exists a mile beneath the surface of the earth. Fallen London is a place where, in the words of EB’s creators, “laudanum-sipping hedonists rub shoulders with romantic devils and rubbery squid-men.Â Echo Bazaar is an unholy combination of casual browser game, choose-your-own-adventure book, and quasi-steampunk MMO.”

The gameâ€™s 10,000-plus users have taken the world of Fallen London into their hearts, creating fan fiction communities and themed parties. One mysterious player even runs a dedicated Internet radio stream calledÂ Radio Free Neath. As reported previously here at ARGNet, the world of Fallen London came to life inÂ An Expedition with Mr. Mirrors at the Victoria & Albert Museum in the real London, part ofÂ Hide&Seek’s Sandpit Night. It was a delightful experience and smashing success, based on informal reactions from participants.

Players may already be familiar with how Echo Bazaar uses the Twitter authentication protocol to link players to the game, and to each other. At the end of this month, the game will open its doors to new online audiences through Facebook. Echo Bazaar will not be an application within Facebook itself butÂ will use Facebook Connect to provide an alternate entry into the game and maintain a Facebook Fan page where some in-game content will be streamed.

Help New England Patriot Vince Wilfork Recover His Stolen Super Bowl Ring!

July 22, 2010 / Jane Doh

Be sad for New England Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork (#75). Someone has stolen his precious Super Bowl XXXIX ring, and now Big Vince needs your help to get it back.

Help Vince is an local interactive marketing game for the New England Patriots that integrates SCVNGR, a location-based, check-in style smartphone app. A few weeks ago, Patriots sports bloggers received simple shirts to start the buzz, but the Help Vince game officially opened last week.

According to the official press conference, Vince brought his Super Bowl ring to his 7th annual draft day fundraiser benefitingÂ diabetes charities. While showing the ultimate prize in American football to a lady Patriots fan, a man in a New York Jets helmet grabbed it and sped away in a vintage Pinto. In the ransom video filmed in his mother’s house, the Ultimate Jets Fan owns up to the crime and claims he just wants “the satisfaction of knowing that [he’s] smarter than the average Patriots fan.”