Tag: nowheremen

Nowheremen – It’s Dangerous to Run a Wiki

nowheremen.jpgBack in August when I wrote about 401WTF, the extended experience for Ashton Kutcher’s new reality television show “Room 401”, I predicted the rather simplistic game might expand into something more. It turns out my prediction was correct, as the Wonderland blog reports the impending launch of Nowheremen.net, “a new community-based social entertainment experience that utilizes the full Web 2.0 medium of platforms to reveal the story behind the mysterious disappearance of a brilliant computer science student, Derek Border.” Apparently, the final clue from the Room 401 experience led players to itkeepsgoing.com. The first 300 players to send their contact information to the website received the next clue in the mail which led to the Nowheremen website, an article about Derek Francis Border’s disappearance.

One of the complaints I had with the game was its general lack of purpose, as the puzzle trail lacked a cohesive plot to tie the various puzzles together. It looks like I’ll have to eat those words, as Derek Francis Border (derekfb) was the creator of the wiki and responsible for posting the show’s episodes on YouTube. Both the ARG and web series revolve around tracking him down.

The timing of this game is rather fortuitous, as an extended experience designed to compliment and coexist with a cable reality televison show guides participants directly to an online web series with relatively high production values, premiering during the WGA strike. It remains to be seen whether this is one of the first of many collaborative efforts by workers displaced in the industry shakeup, or a network-based effort to expand into new media. Whatever the case, the first episode goes live January 22nd, so catch up on the plot and keep your eyes peeled.

Click Here for the discussion at UnFiction
Click Here for the wiki

Image courtesy of CSchmitt7166

Game Tip Round-Up

roundup.jpgWe 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.

MTV’s Room 401 Delivers Thrills, Chills, and an Extended Experience

room401.jpg

The famed illusionist and skeptic Harry Houdini died in Detroit Grace Hospital, Room 401 at 1:26PM on Halloween of 1926. A life shrouded in secrecy ended with secrecy, as the master magician left friends and family with ten words that, if uttered, would conclusively prove his greatest escape of all.

Almost a century later, MTV’s new reality show “Room 401” pays homage to the tricks and illusions of Houdini by assembling skilled illusionists to scare the living daylights out of unsuspecting victims. And as those of you who read BoingBoing already know, executive producer Ashton Kutcher is providing viewers with a little something extra.

Embedded within select frames in each episode of “Room 401” are shots of Ashton Kutcher holding up cue cards with clues leading to various websites including clips from future episodes and bonus features such as the storyboard for the show’s teaser. While the puzzles are a trifle simplistic and there does not yet appear to be a cohesive plot, the fun of this game is derived from searching the show’s frames for secret messages (behavior that must make the show’s advertisers ecstatic). Additionally, players are finding hints of something bigger in the websites’ registration information in addition to morse in the online videos, so the possibility for more exists.

Each episode leads players to discover a new website. The game’s most recent website, as of the third episode, has a countdown ending at the next episode and presumably additional content Tuesday at 10pm (EST). Be careful, though–follow the game too closely, and you just might end up the final victim of Room 401.

Click Here for the 401WTF Wiki, a comprehensive walkthrough of the game so far
Click Here for the UnFiction thread
Click Here for the official MTV Website for the show