Category: Features (Page 33 of 37)

PICNIC ’06, Day One: Cities as Digital Communities

September 28, 2006 / The ARGNet Staff

Written by Sean C. Stacey and Brooke Thompson

Hosted by Sylvia Paull, founder of the Berkeley Cybersalon, who called it the inaugural session of the “Amsterdam Berkely Cybersalon,” this panel discussion centered around the future of large cities, dubbed “Megalopolises” containing around 10 million people, and how to provide digital access to everyone within them. The panel included Joaquin Alvarado, Director of the San Francisco State University’s Institute for Next Generation Internet and Co-Founder of the Digital Sister Cities Initiative, Chris Vein, Acting Executive Director of the Department of Telecommunications and Information Services for the City of San Francisco, Esme Guzman Vos, Founder of Muniwireless.com, Eckart Wintzen, Founder of Ex’tent Green Venture Capital, and Erik Fackeldey, Project Manager for the IT Sector of the Paris Development Agency.

PICNIC ’06, Day One: The IGDA Alternate Reality Gaming White Paper Presentation

September 28, 2006 / The ARGNet Staff

Written by Sean C. Stacey and Brooke Thompson

Our day began with the International Game Developers Association’s Alternate Reality Gaming Special Interest Group’s (or IGDA ARG SIG) White Paper presentation. Adam Martin, founder of the SIG, introduced the project and overall goals of the special interest group, to provide a network for potential ARG developers who might need advice on the various aspects of creation. He offered the group up as a networking resource for authors and producers, support with design, and advice on how to obtain funding. He then presented Brooke Thompson, who filled most of the first hour with an intriguing lecture on current trends in Alternate Reality Gaming. Brooke talked while Sean Stacey took notes and occasionally heckled.

We Came Out and We Played: A Weekend of Public Gaming in NYC

September 28, 2006 / Marie Lamb

Will is disdainful. “No way I’m running,” he declares, “I refuse.” We are moving in a group of four, myself, Will, Rose and EGo, trying to find the best way from West 21st to West 32nd, only using our feet or public transportation. We expect to be chased at any moment. We walk quickly, and manage to catch a crosstown bus. We make it to the first checkpoint safely. But then as we move towards Penn Station, we hear a sharp “Hey!” to our left. A man on a bike, with the dreaded yellow caution tape around his arm, has seen us. Will looks over. He stops in his tracks, and then… he starts running, bike man in pursuit. The game is now more real than we ever imagined.

For it is a game, one of many offered last weekend as part of the first Come Out and Play Festival, a celebration of street and other “big” games in New York City. Included in the weekend’s offerings are games of chase, espionage, assassins and familiar video game favorites, expanded and released into various public spaces around the city.

LonelyGirl15 – Is She or Isn’t She?

August 29, 2006 / Dee Cook

The white-hot spark of a YouTube user named LonelyGirl15 has set the dry timber of the summer Internet community ablaze. Ostensibly the video blog of a teenaged American girl named Bree, the 23 videos posted so far have chronicled a budding romance with a boy named Daniel, but there’s a twist: Bree’s family is very religious, she is home-schooled, and she has pledged a “purity bond” with her father. Even stranger is the fact that Bree’s religion is never named, and in fact on various comments on YouTube she has said that it is not mainstream – “We’re not Christian or Buddhist or Hindu or anything like that.” There’s also a mysterious picture of famous occultist Aleister Crowley on Bree’s bedroom wall, above a candelabra which she’s vehement that Daniel not light. And wait – that Crowley picture is new – it used to be something else (could that possibly bear a resemblance to Baphomet?) A dark twist, indeed.

Buzz has it that the videos are too pat, too scripted, and too professional looking to be anything but some sort of viral campaign. Indeed, the clues are there. Bree initially gained an audience by making engaging and humorous videos featuring popular YouTube users. She’s very cagey about revealing any personally revealing information about herself, often completely dodging uncomfortable questions. Perhaps more telling is the fact that a vanity website under her name was registered on May 12 – almost two weeks before she showed up on YouTube. Those following the saga wonder how she knew she would become an Internet sensation before posting a video (her excuse: Daniel did it to tease her).

ARGFest-o-Con 2006: Chicago – Geeks on a Train

August 4, 2006 / The ARGNet Staff

Due to the extreme awesomeness of ARGFest 2006: Chicago, one writer was not enough to cover all the excitement! Therefore, this article has been contributed by the combined efforts of Sean C. Stacey, Will Bagby, and Michelle Senderhauf. All pictures for this article are courtesy of Will Bagby, photographer extraordinaire.

On a balmy Friday in late July, ARGFest 2006 commenced, as Bagsbee was first on the scene at the scenic Holiday Inn O’Hare. After doing some reconnaissance on the area surrounding the hotel, he went for an early beer and beef jerky run at the local Dominick’s (where, as one suit-and-tie clad commuter on the check-out line commented wistfully, “that looks like a pretty good day right there”). EGo showed up later that morning, and the first of many ARGFest toasts followed soon after. Imbri and a pair of BYOSPers (thunderclap8 and INCyr) arrived, the group dined at the local Hooters, and were soon joined by ARGFest Hostess krystyn.

More ARGFesters trickled in over the course of the afternoon, another booze run was made by Aliendial and others, and everyone gathered in Room 215 (a.k.a. the BYOSP room) for some pre-dinner PS2 Karaoke. At 7 p.m., everyone piled into cars for a 30-second drive to Gino’s East for some famous Chicago deep dish pizza. The jury is still out on Chicago vs. New York-style pizza, although these reporters know the truth. More ARGers showed up during dinner, bringing the total to around 20. After dinner the siren’s call of Karaoke led the group back to the hotel for more hilarity, and some surprisingly good performances.

Flakes on a Refrain – Brain Ouchies Courtesy of EDOC Laundry

July 31, 2006 / Jackie Kerr

JEFF!.jpg
If the catchy rhythm of ragtime music, soft-shoeing in your ear, sets your brain humming, the challenge of EDOC Laundry may tune your fork. Since the opening of the company’s online retail store, EDOC Laundry has introduced players to two websites related to the mystery of the band Poor Richard’s demise, and in its wake, a cresting tide of dead bodies. Having worn and faded the few remaining unsolved shirts â€“ two elusive hats still evading purchase by their wallets â€“ players had been intently twiddling their thumbs, pondering a great many things. (Really great things, such as “How much can we really HATE Sally?” and “How many bad PhotoShops of Jeff can be tolerated without inducing projectile vomit?”) Hence, once Sally and Lyn began posting on their respective websites, the players rejoiced quietly, thrilled to finally be getting a little action from the ladies.