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Stranger Productions

February 16, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

For those of you who want to get in on the ground floor of a new and exciting gaming experience, this might just be the thing you need. Thanks to a tip, ARGN has learned of an “online role-playing game” called Stranger Adventures that will launch on Sunday, February 19th with a pilot series that will last a week. Shortly after the pilot series concludes, the Stranger Adventures series will continue it’s first “season” in 10 installments, to be offered bi-weekly. For players in the United States, there is an added bonus to playing the game in the form of a cash prize for those lucky enough to crack a 10-digit code central to the story.

According to the tip we received, “The weeklong pilot, as well as the following series, will unfold Sunday through Saturday. Each episode will feature its own central character (the “Stranger”) and clues to a 10-digit code that the Stranger needs the players’ help to identify. The clues will not require any specialized expertise and will piece together like a puzzle. The first player to crack the code will win the grand prize of $25,000; the second prize of $10,000 will be divided among every viewer who breaks the code before time runs out. The value of the prizes will progress weekly as the audience grows.”

Alternate Reality Radio

February 12, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

On Friday, February 10, a new show popped up on the rotation at the Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania radio station. WLHU Toxic Radio was host to “Alternate Reality Radio” which is hosted by well-known community member The Creative Embassy (aka Clinton Judy). On the debut show, the discussion topic was “What is an ARG” and, from what we hear, the program was very interesting. The show also includes a lively music selection.

You can listen live each and every Friday at 5 pm EST (10:00 GMT) by going to their Shoutcast and listening to the streaming audio with your favorite player.

Building Fences – An Editorial

February 11, 2006 / Larry Eisner

The age-old argument is coming up again, in the form of the recently launched (and, perhaps, recently concluded) grassroots game, Project Ashcroft 3.

We all know that one of Alternate Reality Gaming’s main selling points and the reason that many of us are around to this day (especially anyone who can remember “where.gif” and “FOUNDER”), is the strong community environment that evolves during a game. Every once in a while though, a new game (or sometimes rogue players) will buck the trend by playing the “adversary” card, pitting player against player. In recent history, the ARG community has not addressed this issue in depth, preferring to assume that this action is the exception, and not the rule.

So which is it? Is it a good practice and a natural evolution in the gaming realm? Is this a bad idea contrary to the ideals upon which Alternate Reality Games were founded? Let’s talk, shall we?

The Ultimate Mission: More Possible Than That Other One

February 9, 2006 / Yulia Mostovoy

An official web-based scavenger hunt has sprung up for fans of the Mission Impossible series. To celebrate the release of the upcoming third movie, Paramount Pictures has launched a campaign in which players become “agents” who solve a series of missions by seeking out clues hidden across the internet.

The first mission, released this week, led players to a hidden clue in the movieâ€™s Super Bowl ad. A new mission will be revealed each Monday at 5pm PST, leading up to the movie release on May 5th. The clues point to solutions embedded in various partner sites, and yield keywords that hint at aspects of the movieâ€™s plot.

The game is competitive, as players earn points based mainly on how many missions they complete and how speedily they do so. The ultimate super grand prize is a paid trip to the US movie premiere, but a multitude of other prizes will also be given away. The first 15,000 agents who complete the entire game will get a “special prize.” Mysterious.

For this particular movie, a web-based interactive campaign seems natural. The director, J.J. Abrams, is the creator of the television show Lost, which offers ARG-like webpages that expand on the showâ€™s universe.

Players have reported some problems with the game thus far, including difficulties logging in and submitting the completed mission. Technical difficulties also resulted in the first mission launching a day late. Hopefully the game developers will fix the issues for a smoother run in subsequent weeks.

Discussion at Unfiction

Pherotones – This is Really Not a Game?

February 9, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it must be a duck, right? Wrong, according to Pherotones Intimacy Expert Myra Vanderhood. After we reported on what appears to be the start of an Alternate Reality Game, we received this email from the good doctor:

Dear ARGN Community,

Thank you so much for your budding interest in Pherotones, the amazing ring tone secret from Denmark that can spark sexual attraction.

It has come to my attention that some members of the ARG community are carefully scrutinizing the Pherotonal Record in the mistaken belief that it holds clues to a new, evolving Alternate Reality Game.

While I am flattered by your attention, I am sorry to say that there is no game afoot.

Pherotones.com is not the portal of a game, and my weblog, “Discovering Pherotones” contains nothing of interest beyond my own thoughts and impressions as I gather evidence to prove my hypothesis.

You will not find a Puzzlemaster like Dave Szulborski behind this particular curtain, and there is no Ian Yarborough here for us to moon over.

The only way to actually participate in the Pherotones experience is to try them for yourself, and, if you wish, to report your “anecdotal evidence” to my weblog, “Discovering Pherotones” (pherotones.blogspot.com). There is no prize offered, and the only thing you stand to gain from your input is the satisfaction of knowing you have, in a small way, advanced the cause of Pherotonal Science.

Thank you for your attention,

Dr. Myra Vanderhood, Intimacy Expert and Founder of Pherotones.com

So, will this end up being another Redkore fiasco, or is this the start of something big? For now, we’re content to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Pherotones

February 3, 2006 / Brooke Thompson

Pherotones have the potential to transform a friend into something more.

Several weeks ago, Dr. Myra Vanderhood was interviewed by Bruce Stewart for Oâ€™Reilly Emerging Telephony blog about the potential of using ring tones to attract members of the opposite sex. Pherotones are the audio equivalent of pheromones, in which people and animals are attracted or repulsed by upon receiving a fragrant whiff of a potential mate. Dr. Myra Vanderhood discovered that sounds can have a similar effect and is testing her discovery on ring tones.

The interview with Stewart linked to Dr. Vanderhoodâ€™s blog as well as to a wikipedia article (since deleted) on Pherotones and it didnâ€™t take long for the blogosphere to weigh in with fascination and controversy. Once it was discovered that the wikipedia article had been written by McKinney + Silver (the Ad Agency behind Art of the Heist), there was a justifiable frustration over the manipulation of one of the internet’s best resources for commercial and advertising purposes. And, despite their best efforts of hiding their involvement (going as far as to obscure the registration information for the pherotones.com website), it brought McKinney Silver into the fold. When confronted by this, Dr. Vanderhood explained that someone on the board hired them for promotional purposes (great thinking on your feet!) and added a new â€œIs this a marketing campaign” question to the website FAQ.

There is still no word on the actual client, though rumors have it ranging from Qwest (a client of McKinney Silvers) to Stephen Kingâ€™s latest novel, Cell. We do know that the website will be updating (and a wiki of sorts will appear at some point), though the depth of the campaign is still to be determined. However, with the possible interaction (Dr. Vanderhood will chat on AIM and has replied to emails) and the great quick thinking weâ€™ve seen so far, if it goes very deep it should be a fun and well thought out ride.

ARGN verdict: pherotones have the potential to transform the spring gaming season into something more.