[arg_discuss] Introduction: Morbus Iff

[Morbus Iff]

 > Welcome to all those who've joined the list recently! If you haven't
 > introduced yourself yet, please feel free to send us a paragraph or
 > two about yourself and your interest in ARGs ... hopefully you'll find
 > some kindred spirits already on the list.

I go by Morbus Iff, and have been for more than a decade. The 
distinction I make between that name and my given name, Kevin Hemenway, 
is simple, from http://www.disobey.com/about/morbus:

   I use the two names in clearly defined ways: "Kevin Hemenway" is
   when my work is being affected by the all-mighty dollar. "Morbus Iff",
   on the other hand, is when I hold all the cards and call all the
   shots. While you can expect brilliance in either form (heh, heh),
   that Kevin fellow is probably being restrained, curtailed, censored,
   or manipulated in some way.

I've coauthored a few books for O'Reilly, tech-edited or contributed to 
a dozen others, and have written for Apple and MacTech magazine.

I had a passing interest in The Beast, bought an Xbox and Halo because 
of ILB (and was heartily disappointed in Halo 2), and have been fiddling 
with Perplex City for the past year. I'm waxing poetic internally about 
what ARG to follow with PXC's now-indefinite postponing. AliceIsLost is 
currently high on that list.

I joined the list a few weeks ago to get a better understanding of the 
PM side of things, mostly for curiosity. I have a slowly developing idea 
for an ARG (with optional micropayments) but know I wouldn't have the 
resources to do it myself (and would rather develop the world/plot and 
pass it to someone else).


One question I've not thought through is player choice. How do you give 
a choice to the players without it seeming obvious? This is not intended 
as success or failure ("you solve this, A happens; you don't solve it, B 
happens"), but rather "which path do you want this character to take"? 
This is also not "right or wrong" - either path is entirely viable, and 
no amount of research would make one answer right-er than the other.

-- 
Morbus Iff ( black as the devil and sweet as a stolen kiss )
Technical: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/779
Culture: http://www.disobey.com/ and http://www.gamegrene.com/
aim: akaMorbus / skype: morbusiff / icq: 2927491 / jabber.org: morbus