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Jane McGonigal on CNET Tomorrow

December 18, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Jane McGonigal, the well-known alternate reality gaming designer and academic, will be interviewed tomorrow by Daniel Terdiman of CNET in the Second Life virtual world. McGonigal, creator of Cruel 2 B Kind and former lead designer at 42 Entertainment, will be talking in the theater of the CNET bureau in Second Life, marking the second occasion in less than a month where ARG designers have spoken in the Second Life realm — the other, a Second Life Future Salon discussion, will be discussed in a future article here at ARGNet.

According to the CNET Gaming Blog, the interview will happen at 11 am PST (2 pm EST, 7 pm GMT) but you must be registered at Second Life to access the CNET SL Bureau.

The Trouble with Tropes

December 18, 2006 / Will Bagby

What started out as a minor diversion is turning out to be something more. The UK-based U-media is working on a new product called a trope: an “entirely new media form […] that reproduces an experience exactly â€“ down to emotions and thoughts.” Players digging deeper into the company’s website are discovering a backstory and indications that all is not what it seems at U-media.

While it’s a little too soon to say definitively what is going on at U-Media, by all indications the players have only scratched the surface. In addition to the original puzzle trail, there are a number of other telltale ARG elements in play, such as password-protected forums (complete with hidden “backdoor”), secretive corporate research projects, player-character interactions, a personal blog, a sudden character disappearance, and a mysterious R&D compound dubbed “The Village.”

Head over to the discussion thread at UF to get the scoop.

U-media. Feeling is Believing.

Rabbithole
UF Discussion
Chat in #umedia on ChatSolutions

The ARGNet Staff Gift Buying Guide

December 16, 2006 / The ARGNet Staff

In a world where c|net, GeeksOn and the Parents’ Choice Foundation have their own holiday gift guide, why not ARGNet as well? Our staff has been hard at work doing their own holiday shopping, but that hasn’t stopped them from contributing some gift ideas for the special ARGonaut in your life. Here are their picks for 2006:

Wheeeee! Sammeeeees Wraps Up

December 14, 2006 / Jessica Price

The whimsical and popular indie ARG Sammeeeees concluded Tuesday with a hostage exchange, a mysterious ritual, and touching farewells.

The story centered around Mr. Alan Johnson, leader of a group called the Spoocheeeees who secretly ruled all world governments with power from a mystical disc, and a man who called himself Peeps, leader of the Sammeeeees who were trying to break the Spoocheeeees’ nefarious hold on power.

Players obtained the five pieces of the Spoocheeeees disk and its central serpent icon and Unfiction’s Konamouse performed the ritual to reverse the Spoocheeeees’ power. (See it on YouTube here.) Meanwhile, Peeps offered himself to Mr. Alan Johnson in exchange for the five Sammeeeees held prisoner. During a struggle with double-agent named Cathy who was attempting to rescue her son Dwin — one of the five hostages — Mr. Alan Johnson fell on his own knife, freeing both Peeps (who was, ironically, his estranged brother) and the hostages.

Ho Ho Ho, Ya Grinches!

December 5, 2006 / Jessica Price

If you’re looking for some seasonal puzzle fun, grab some eggnog and have a seat at your computer. The elves who man the ARGNet tipline have alerted us to what appears to be a holiday-themed puzzle trail with a trailhead on blogspot.

Are you ready to play the oldest sport in the world? asks the title of the single post on The Reindeer Games blog. Snowball McJinglebell, the recently appointed head of the Human Division of the Reindeer Games, is happy to announce that Santa has opened up the competition to human participation this year, and he and his fellow elves (including Holly O’Mistletoe, who, in a whimsical touch, makes iPods out of snowflakes) would like to invite you to try your skills on the puzzles at the Reindeer Games board.

The boards are password-protected (presumably the answer to each puzzle will be the password to the next) and the password for the first puzzle is provided at the end of the blog entry. It seems to be in binary, and the translation of the binary is half a Christmas-themed word, but it requires a bit of a guess to get the correct answer.

All of the other reindeer are playing, but they’re willing to let you join in this reindeer game, so head on over to The Reindeer Games Blog for a dose of puzzly Christmas spirit!

Bay City ARGers: The ‘Fest in Fogtown ’07

December 4, 2006 / Marie Lamb

It’s official folks: ARGfest-O-Con 2007 is coming to San Francisco and plans to leave its heart there the weekend of March 2-4. The focus will be on “How to PM a Game” and “The Future of ARGs” (working titles). Save the date! And after you scribble it down excitedly on your Dilbert calendar, or type it excitedly into your Nerdtastic Online Scheduler 6000XV, find your to-do list and write down the following: Help plan ARGfest.

Yes, this is your chance to jump in at the beginning and help put together the best fest yet. Rose, Unfiction regular and ARGfest NYC hostess extraordinaire, has once more agreed to helm the efforts to get this show up and running, and she would really like some local help to get logistics settled as soon as possible. Specifically, she needs people familiar with the city and its environs to suggest local venues for hotels, restaurants, amusements, potential field trips, and/or any other information about the area that you can provide. She promises you will not be overburdened.

We also need volunteers to suggest and help coordinate speakers/panels, and help run the registration process. You do not need to be local to do this.

Would you or your company like to help sponsor ARGfest? Contact Rose to discuss the possible arrangements.

PM her at the Unforum (user name: rose) or add yourself to the handy ARGfest-O-Wiki on the Help page with your preferred contact information.

See you by the bay!