Author: Jessie Greene

To Immerse or Not To Immerse

free_immersion.jpgEditor’s note: Alternate Reality Gamers debating whether to explore the newfound Interact-Fic site will be glad to know ARGNet staff writer Jessie Greene recently caught up with the creators to see what they could tell us about the not-entirely-new concept.

ARGN: With the interest generated by your site, prospective players would like to know about the creators. Tell me about your team.

IF: Well, this is an easy one. There are three of us: Tyler, Dalton, and Christine. We’re all 27, and we met in college. We became best friends. We live in the same town now. We all have different jobs, but we get together on weekends and some days after work to work on Interact-Fic, writing and planning and stuff.

ARGN: What’s your inspiration in creating Interact-Fic?

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ARGer Sam Needs You!

argerSam1.jpgLadies and Gentlemen, step right up and become a part of history. Yes, that’s right! You too can take part in an extremely important mission by volunteering your time and awesome skills to the future of the ARG genre. The mission, if you choose to accept it:

* Help promote Alternate Reality Gaming and highlight its impact on the entertainment, education, media, and advertising fields
* Assist in archiving Alternate Reality Game press articles and game artifacts for future players, academics, puppetmasters, and the media
* Aid in the development of open discussion between game designers, academics, players,
and the media

Introduced at ARGFest, The Initiative On Alternate Reality Gaming (IonARG) is an innovative opportunity for collaboration between everyone with an interest in ARGs to help the growth and representation of the genre. Formed in December 2006 by a combined group of developers, players, and community leaders, IonARG seeks “to promote the genre through discussion and action.” Currently, there are five specific initiatives proposed by IonARG that need your help, including maintenance of the ARG wikipedia article and amassing a complete archive of game sites and news articles relating to ARGs.

Anyone can be a member, volunteer, contribute, and discuss. To enlist, join the mailing list, don your combat boots (combat boots optional), and put up your archives. Come on, put ’em up put ’em up.

IonARG.com
IonARG Wiki

Y-Y-You Will See Such Pretty Things

wyoming.pngA few unlucky players recently found themselves feeling ill after watching The Wyoming Incident, a short film uploaded to Google Video in August of last year. Whether due to the power of suggestion, an uneasiness induced by odd frequencies, or coincidence, the sensations led curious viewers to further research the information included in the video’s description.

“The Wyoming Incident (or The Wyoming Hijacking) is a lesser known case of television broadcast hijacking/hacking. A hacker managed to interrupt broadcasts from a local programming channel (believed to serve several smaller communities in the county of Niobrara) and aired his/her own video. The video contained numerous clips of disembodied human heads showing various emotions and “poses”. The camera position changed often (usually every ten-to-fifteen seconds) and the video was often interrupted by a “SPECIAL PRESENTATION” announcement…The video is mostly locally well-known, and would probably not even be that popular if it were not for the effects it had on the few residents who watched it for an extended period of time. Complaints included vomiting, hallucinations, headaches, etc. While some believed it was paranormal, specialists have determined that the cause of these afflictions were frequencies played regularly throughout the broadcast.”

Four more videos have been found containing similar images and more cryptic text, and other game elements, including a serial killer forum, creepy warnings of black-eyed children watching player movements, and allusions to mind control have players scurrying to find the true intentions of The Wyoming Incident hijacker.

UnFiction Thread
Happy Cube Forum (In-Game)
UnKnown Videos (In-Game Blog)