[arg_discuss] Blair Witch

[despain at quantumcontent.com]

Completely agree.

So, one of the things to add to the media kit we should put together is a
stern warning about using the words "hoax" and "fake" and suggestions for
alternatives.

Wendy Despain
quantumcontent.com



> Timewarping from the holidays into some of these discussions assuming that

> Mike answers his creator questions, but I have some vested interest in

> some

> of this conceptually as well:

>

> Hugh Davies wrote:

>>For what is worth, I took "staged discussion" to mean stuff like forums,

>>documentaries and other media that are created to reinforce the

>>mythology of the original text.

>

> Unfortunately, it read to me like "faked discussions" especially after

> labeling BW a "hoax" (making it sound like a synonym for what in the

> States

> we might call "astroturfing" -- or creating the appearance of a grassroots

> effort.)

>

> BW was more organic than that and actually started on outside websites

> before Mike and crew got a BW website up. That aside, even if they didn't

> ... even if they hosted those discussions ... does "staged" really work as

> a

> description for the social media media portions (which is what I would

> think

> the writer was referring to with the "discussions" part?)

>

> Perhaps ... in general ... "faked" might be a good word to avoid as an ARG

> development community. Fiction is fakery with artistic instead of

> manipulative intent. Myth is a good word for narratives that are

> malleable.

> Faked brings with it a pejorative context that I know Mike and I have both

> had to work hard to build differentiation from.

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org]

> On

> Behalf Of Hugh Davies

> Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 8:49 PM

> To: ARG_Discuss at igda.org

> Subject: [arg_discuss] Blair Witch

>

> Forgive my ignorance Micheal, but I haven't seen your discussions

> outlining

> the elements of transparency in Blair Witch campaign in this list so i

> appogise if im skipping over well trodden ground. I can only guess that

> this

> discussion happened over a year ago and thus before my time.

>

> I have to say, at the time of its release there was little to suggest to

> the

> average punter that Blair Witch was anything but kosher in that kind of

> social "saw it with my own eyes" urban myth way. I noticed Wikipedia

> mentions Blair Witch as "presented as documentary" yet many sites refer to

> it lovingly as a hoax.

>

> I guess what I'm most curious about what term do you feel would best

> represent the nature of the Blair Witch text?

>

>

>

> ps

>

> For what is worth, I took "staged discussion" to mean stuff like forums,

> documentaries and other media that are created to reinforce the mythology

> of

> the original text.

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