Author: Jonathan Waite (Page 36 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.

Success and Failure at Live Events

May 2, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

As reported Thursday, two seperate real world events occured this weekend within the ARG The Art Of The Heist. However, in an interesting turn of events, only one retrieval mission was a success. Players of the game were ecstactic as the New York interaction with DJ Will Star went off without a hitch, and shocked as the mission at the Coachella Music Festival was a complete bust.

Community members bagsbee and rose were front and center at The Scratch DJ Academy on Friday night to meet with Will Star, who teaches at the academy. The package was received and, once opened, another valuable SD card was available for the players to look over.

Art Of The Heist: Bi-Coastal

April 28, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

Indio, CA / New York, NY The ARG phenomenon, The Art Of The Heist, continues to immerse players in its storyline with another event planned for the night of April 29th in New York City. The following day, another game tie-in will occur in Indio, California at the world famous Coachella Valley Music Festival. This real world interaction is quite impressive, as it’s been a few years since an ARG has successfully held events on opposite sides of the continent within such a short timespan of each other.

The Art Of The Heist: Atlanta Update

April 17, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

Yesterday’s real world event in Atlanta, part of the Art of the Heist ARG, turned out to be an adventure of sorts, as three ARG community members played crucial roles in the story and provided more drama and intrigue in the game that continues to blur the lines between reality and Alternate Reality.

The three ‘retrievers’ who play on the Unfiction forums (Valkyros, Meghan, and j5) met with in-game character Nisha at a restaurant early in the day, where they were given a mission: obtain an SD card from the inside of an Audi parked at a nearby dealership. The three players devised a plan:

Excerpt from Valkyros’ account of what happened:
The plan was straightforward, I was to proceed first to eyeball the site and provide security overwatch. Meghan was then to saunter in and corner the salesman posted near the A3. Nisha suggested that Meghan steer him to the $129,000 A8 parked in the northernmost corner of the show room. Once this was accomplished, J5 would enter showroom and get in the relatively untended A3. From there he would rifle the car and hopefully locate the SD card.

The actual retrieval process by j5 was like something from a James Bond movie, while online players watched the scene via webcam:

Excerpt from j5’s account of what happened:
I did a once around and entered the driver’s side door. Once in, I immediately started looking in the obvious places. I opened the armrest, found an accordion panel and slid it open, â€œnothingâ€ I felt around the steering wheel â€œcheck under the floor matsâ€ Nisha suggests in my earpiece. Right about the time I start lifting floor mats, a tall man in a white dealership shirt approached and introduced himself, holding out his arm at full length to shove his hand into the window of the car. I took him to be the GM of the store based on his presence, so I shook his hand and introduced myself. He asked If I had any questions or needed help with anything or if I was interested in a brochure. â€œAs a matter of fact, a brochure would be great, can you locate one for me?â€ Once he was gone, the search began again in earnest; I was sliding seats all the way back in their tracks, removing ashtrays, pulling off panels. Nisha continued offering suggestions and asking where I had looked.

The mission was a success, as J5 found and retrieved the SD card and then met up with Nisha and the other players at their rendezvous point.

With the high profile theft of an Audi A3 from a car show, and this intense mission, this game has quickly become one of the most impressive games in ARG history. We can only hope that Art of the Heist continues to blow our minds as the story unfolds.

Trailhead
Discussion at Unfiction
Trail
Chat in #heist

The Art Of The Heist: Atlanta!

April 15, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

After an interesting real world event in New York City involving a stolen Audi A3 two weeks ago, The Art of the Heist appears set to bring their Alternate Reality into the lives of those players lucky enough to live in Atlanta, Georgia. In-game communication between two characters led perceptive players to ads at Monster.com (which has since been removed) and Craig’s List, where Nisha, one of the protagonists in the story, asks for public assistance.

Once the ads were decoded (what would an in-game announcement be without encryption?), players were prompted to email the character for more details. Those that made the effort were sent this reply:

Thanks for your interest in helping. We are looking for retrievers in Atlanta to help secure an item. You must pass a background check in order to accomplish this task. You will be required to sign a release. You will be trained to operate some electronic equipment and given a task to accomplish, and you will work as a team under the direction of Nisha Roberts.

Applicants were told to be available for Saturday, April 16th, from Noon to 3:00 pm local time if they wanted to participate. The players were also subjected to background checks — three Unfiction forum members have passed these and are going to be on-scene for the event.

Within days of the ads being discovered, information was released in-game about the location of where the event will take place — an Audi dealership. As well, the characters have set up a image webcast for their worldwide audience to tune in as things happen. This means that all players (and not only those who can make it to Atlanta) will be able to take part in this unique opportunity. Community members are extremely excited about this event, and are eager to find out what will happen in this exciting ARG.

So far, this game has been a huge hit with the players, and with the innovations and creativity they’ve seen so far, it’s easy to see why AotH players are hooked. ARGN will bring you the very latest details as this story unfolds.

Trailhead
Discussion at Unfiction
Trail
Chat in #heist

Two ARGs Sharing One Mind

March 18, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

In news that was shocking to players involved in the Synagoga and Wildfire Industries ARGs, they were actually playing… the same game!

In a plot twist revealed earlier today, players of the Synagoga game were given information that confirmed that the two games are indeed one. Reaction has been generally positive across all discussion boards, so chalk this one up to ‘pleasant surprise’.

The Cult of Adramelech

January 2, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

Another ARG has popped up to the surface as more and more people get drawn into the world of the Cult of Adramelech (translates to “robe of the king”). It all started with an email but has quickly grown to encompass multiple websites, blogs and email/IM/telephone interaction. While the story is still developing, players are quickly completing tasks (solving puzzles, primarily) in order to move further in the game. However, it’s not clear yet if their efforts are helping Jake, the secretive email sender, or the Servants of Adramelech themselves.