Author: Jonathan Waite (Page 12 of 37)

Jonathan Waite was an innocent lurker when The Beast hit the Internet in 2001. From his temporary residence in Jeon Ju, South Korea, he was immediately captivated by the lush environment that had been laid out before his feet. Moving back to his hometown (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) in July of the same year, Jonathan continued to be involved in the burdgeoning genre of Alternate Reality Gaming, getting into Plexata and finding a voice on the forums dedicated to the game. Once Lockjaw hit in 2002, there was no looking back. Jonathan adopted the alias 'jamesi', started a fansite called GuysGuise, and the rest is history.
Jonathan can currently be found as an administrator on Unfiction's forums, as well as co-hosting the ARG Netcast audio show. In the past, he has been involved with Smirkbox, a humor site that focuses on the realm of ARGs, as well as actively creating and maintaining JMX, a puzzle trail website that is currently working (yes, still) on a second run.

As a freelance developer and consultant, Jonathan has worked on such games as Ocular Effect (for Fallen on ABC family), Reach the Future (aka Holomove, for Microsoft), Enitech Labs (for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on FOX) and Monster Hunter Club (for The Host by Magnolia Films). He is happily married and has two wonderful daughters.

The Mailman Cometh

November 6, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

Today was a great day for getting mail. The newest Rolling Stone magazine arrived, as did the December copy of Macworld. Also, nestled between a CAA membership renewal notice and a flyer for a grocery store, was an inconspicuous package addressed to ARGN… from ARGN. ‘Weird,’ I thought, ‘I don’t remember sending myself a package.’ And then it hit me — we were being RABBIT HOLED!

Quickly, I flipped the package over and pulled the easy-open red tab. Inside, I found a DVD, a newspaper headline clipping, and a ripped picture of a fairly attractive woman. After scanning the contents (and the postmark) I went for the DVD and stuck it into my trusty laptop. The name of the disc, My DVD, revealed nothing of use, so I played it, and what I saw shocked and amazed me:

Yes, that was a scary looking guy, hitting a fence. And yes, that was a puzzle piece that flashed on the screen near the end of the video. Okay, so maybe it’s not as shocking and amazing as I might have previously stated, but it’s still a mysterious, ominous video that’s worth watching. Is this the lovechild of The Human pet and the Golden Jigsaw? Probably not, but it’s still something that has us curious about what’s to come.

So, how do we go forward from here? My guess is that we will have to wait until more people receive similar packages — Sean C. Stacey of Despoiler got one, and is going to be posting a message shortly about what he got. If anyone else out there has more information, be sure to send us a quick note (via the contact form, perhaps?) so that we can provide an update later in the week.

How Was Your Weekend?

October 29, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

While the weekend represents quiet and solitude for many of you, alternate reality gaming does not stop for days of the week that begin with an S. We received a plethora of ARG tips, tidbits and updates through the past few days, and here are the highlights:

Lance Weiler, a recent guest on the ARG Netcast series, has written about Hope is Missing, the ARG that was created to promote the DVD release of his film Head Trauma. His article at The Workbook Project is chock full of details and statistics about the campaign, and is an excellent read for people finding themselves on either side of the Puppetmaster curtain.
This year marks the second time that the Trinity University’s Coates Library in San Antonio has run Blood on the Stacks, an alternate reality game that helps new students to get familiar with the school’s library. According to this entry at the SHU – Blogcause07 blog, “anecdotally the library and support staff reported feedback from students of feeling more familiar, less alien in the environment, the library was associated with fun and the staff were more approachable.” This appears to be yet another neat way that people are using ARGs to assist in a social environment.
Thanks to a press release we received, we know how survivors of a zombie-apocalypse will find each other — Last Day’s Journal. This is a project that began in 2005 at the hands of Superfreako Productions, a two-brother team that had the idea for a television show dedicated to the concept of a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested world.

Help us figure out: DNV, LGV 14

October 8, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

When it comes to game tip emails, we’ve seen our share of cryptic messages, but none as puzzling as the two tips for what we assume is the same game. Tip 1 went a little something like this:

Message: The first messages are being spread. We are Artists, and this is our Art. This is a Game, and we need Players.

You will be informed soon

Signed,
DNV, LVG

PS: Find someone who speaks Dutch

Um, okay. We asked for more information from the author, which is when we got tip 2:

Over there, there is a bridge. Under the bridge, there is a message. Behind the message, there is a code. behind the code, there is a Project.

A website is coming. This is intended as a local game. If anyone lives in that area, feel free to ping him. Be cunning, for we will be aswell.

I’m looking forward to hearing of you.

Signed,
Vincent & Laurence

Accompanying this email was the graphic we include at the top of this article — click on it for the full version.

So, anyone Dutch-speaking ARGers out there willing to give us a hand with this?

What do Education, iPhones, and LG15 Have in Common?

September 30, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

After cleaning out my inbox (1300+ messages!), I found a few stories from the past month or so that I found interesting, and I hope you will too:

Over at Cross-Media Entertainment, Christy Dena is reporting on a new educational ARG called Help Me Solve a Mystery. Quoting from the Research Quest blog , Dena notes that the ARG will be “designed to teach critical thinking and information literacy skill. The game will be targeted to college students, yet will be freely open and promoted in order to attract a broad range of participants.” Our very own Michael Andersen started up a discussion thread at the Unfiction forums earlier this week. Gayla Keesee, who blogs at Ed Tech Lady, has written an article asking for assistance from people currently playing this game, so if you can help her out, be a good samaritan!

Also on the educational front comes this article by Ian Bogost at Water Cooler Games. It tells of an instructional counter-terrorism ARG called the Never Rest Game and links to a discussion thread at the Unfiction forums.

Just as the news of two instructional ARGs comes to our attention Jeremy Vernon blogs about using ARGs as an educational tool. We hope Jeremy is watching the same blogs and web sites as we are.

The last of the education-themed story alerts pointed us in the direction of Dr. Scott J. Warren, a professor at the University of North Texas. Dr. Warren is teaching his students about alternate reality gaming through a course called CECS 1000, describing the course as a “hybrid course.” Warren is extending his classroom environment to Second Life, but exactly what kind of ARG this will turn out to be is unknown, as it is closed to outside access. However, you can read Warren’s own blog at doorarg.wordpress.com.

Shifting gears now, Wagner James Au and Jane Pinckard at GigaOm have pontificated about the most-wanted games for the iPhone, and #7 on the list is Perplex City, or another top ARG. Their argument is that an ARG would showcase the multi-funcionality of the iPhone, and they are calling for Jane McGonigal to be hired for the project.

Elan Lee of 42 Entertainment was recently a speaker at one of the IGNITE discussion nights in Seattle. Video of his talk can be seen at YouTube.

And finally, another ARG set in the universe of Lonelygirl15 has launched. Mission Anchor Cove is being run by TheLadyLazarus, according to this post at LG15 Today.

It’s Been Five Long Years and I Love You Just the Same

September 26, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

On September 26, 2002, this site was born with the groundbreaking news: Forums Closed. Yes, on that day, the Godfather of alternate reality gaming, Steve Peters, relayed the sad news that the ARGN forums were closing, but this led the way to new forums at Unfiction and a new direction for this site as a news source and, shortly thereafter, a hub for community resources. Along the way, Steve found work at 42 Entertainment, which is when I was fortunate enough to be asked to take the site under my wing. The site shifted from a community hub to a full-time ARG news resource in 2006, which is what you see today on our fifth anniversary.

While we don’t have any cake to share on this wonderful day, I do have some bouquets to pass along:

First and foremost, I’d like to thank all of the current and former staff who have made this site a wonderful place to be a part of. The tireless work of these hard-working volunteers has always impressed and amazed me, so they deserve their due.

Secondly, I will thank those leaders out there who continue to dedicate their individual efforts in making sure the ARG community is a warm, welcoming place to be a part of. While we are no longer an official ‘network’ of resources, the camaraderie of the community members proves that we are as much a family as a group of puzzle-solving instant-messaging story-loving people can be.

And last, but mostly, I want to thank all of you readers who continue to make us a part of your day and your life. As cliche as it may sound, without you we’re nothing. We continue to work for this genre because we love and care for this genre, and it’s not only because of the great games, it’s also because of the great people playing them.

So, with all of that said, help us to blow out the candles and celebrate another birthday as we look forward to many more celebrations in the future.

Game Tip Round-Up

September 24, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

We have been a bit preoccupied here at the ARGNet Ranch, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not paying attention to the inbox. While we haven’t had much opportunity to follow up on some of the tips we’ve received, we thought it’d be best to release them into the wild to see what happened. Here, in no particular order, are the tips.

From someone calling themselves Fiddlefaddle comes a link to Worse Than a Fairy Tale, which is “ARGesque” in nature and is tied into the new CD of the same name by Drop Dead Gorgeous, a “hardcore/screamo band” that Fiddlefaddle digs. The plot involves murders and the game/experience looks pretty slick and well-produced upon initial viewing.

Guillaume Hugo led us to Nowheremen, but we’re not sure exactly what it is yet. Something to keep an eye on, perhaps?

Michele wanted us to know about SilverLadder, which already as a lot of discussion at the Unfiction forums. We mentioned it on Episode 37 of the ARG Netcast series (to be released in the next few days) and will be watching it closely. There are references to Alice in Wonderland and involves a mysterious “Korporation”, so there are definitely mysteries afoot.

There have been three emails — a tip, and two reminders (okay, we got the message!) — for a new game at What is this Game?. It has a spooky theme, registrations open on Halloween, and the game apparently starts January 1, 2008. No idea what the need is for a two month registration period, but hopefully it amounts to something worthwhile. And, hey, look at that, a MySpace profile that ties in!

Ty Kieth sent us this gem: “I’m sitting in a Safe Room right now surrounded by a random-signal quantum field so the damn Monks can’t see me. I’ve managed to compromise the site. Hopefully I can warn a few converts away while I’m at it. Avery, if you’re there, I’ve left some breadcrumbs for you,” with a link to The Electric Church. This is a tie-in with the book of the same name, authored by Jeff Somers, but we haven’t looked deeper than the front page. Besides, if this game tip isn’t supposed to be written by an in-game character, we’re not so much curious as we are bewildered and a bit scared. Seriously — random-signal quantum fields are our greatest fear.

(Actually, we’re not that scared, as Alex tipped us off to what’s really happening at the site: “It’s not technically an ARG, but Jeff Somers, author of the forthcoming novel The Electric Church, has included a deviously complicated series of codes and puzzles… which should appeal to ARG fans.” Thanks for making us feel safer, Alex.)

Finally, things seem to be progressing quickly at Dunder Mifflin Infinity, so much so that many regional managers have been chosen for new Dunder Mifflin Paper Company branches across North America. If you’re completely lost at this point, we’re talking about the fictional company at the center of NBC’s hit comedy The Office. if you’re a fan of the show, this one is shaping up to be something very, very cool.

And that does it for another few weeks worth of game tips. Keep them coming folks — we anticipate having a bit more time in the coming months for more frequent updates about new games. And, as always, you can check in with the Unfiction forums News & Rumors section for more news and game tips.