[arg_discuss] English Gargoyle ARG?

[Morbus Iff]

> I'm not intentionally trying to be obtuse. I'm trying to understand how

> you differentiate between "publicity stunt" and ARG. Couldn't I Love 

> be considered a publicity stunt? Why not?


Sure, it could be considered a publicity stunt, but not all publicity 
stunts are ARGs (and vice versa). I don't consider ARGs publicity 
stunts, and I don't consider publicity stunts ARGs. According to 
Wikipedia, a publicity stunt's primary purpose is to attract attention, 
which tends to be a pretty core purpose of an ARG too, so one could 
argue that they're inherently related. But then we're slipping down the 
watered down path we're both trying to stay away from.

What struck me most about your initial comment is "even if it goes no 
further." I do not consider, what we know right now, (yet!) an ARG:

  * some guy left a bunch of rocks all over the place.
  * said rocks had the word "paradox" written in "occult" style.
  * there was a riddle on it.
  * shortly thereafter, the media issued a second thing "explaining" it.
  * going to the site discovered by the media, there's nothing there
    that I have yet to see as "conflict" or "next step" or "equally
    mysterious". I'm not seeing any "reason" for me to think this
    is anything but actual reality. Nor on the linked blog.

I said "No, it's not an ARG", because it's done a pretty good job of 
making me believe it's at face value (ie., an artist promoting himself; 
locative art, publicity stunt, whatever, etc.). I have been careful (in 
further explanations) to leave open the possibility that it is an ARG, 
even whilst believing it's not.

For it to slowly inch closer to that of ARG vs. Not ARG, there has to be 
conflict or "something to do". ILB, even whilst starting at a form of 
locative art (honey in the mail spelling out the website), had the 
corrupted images, random letters, and the Halo 2 trailer. There was 
something to "figure out".

There are certainly puzzles in this English Gargoyle thing - the entire 
puzzle of "why did he leave these all over the place" and the riddle 
("Twinkle twinkle like a star does love blaze less from afar?"), but the 
first is similar to other publicity stunts (already remitted), and the 
riddle doesn't lend itself to what I would consider a concrete "next 
step", though it has certainly become Google friendly.


> Well, you're saying things like "that turned lame" and that sounds to me


My use of "lame" is more "Weak and ineffectual; unsatisfactory", not the 
more emotive "it sucks" which can be a value judgment on content. "It's 
lame that it was only locative art and not a full blown ARG." The exact 
phrase you quote is used in the sense of "27.com takes random things 
from any current mystery, slaps them on its website, and tries to pass 
it off as itself being mysterious; that's lame." The one that's up there 
now is from The Watchmen movie (ro.jpg for Rorschach). It's all spooky 
and mysterious, but it's /just/ spooky and mysterious. There's nothing 
else there. Same with the UFO drone picture he used (also in the exact 
fashion, as an image that had to be viewed manually).


> by saying "strawberry ice cream is gross" or "that publicity stunt was lame."


The only way that comparison would work is if you meant "gross" as 
"glaringly obvious" or "broad and general", not "gross, ew, yucky". I 
apologize for the confusion I caused - I use "lame" far more exacting 
than the current slang.


> Is it missing puzzles? Narrative? Are those things requirements for being

> an ARG? Are you saying you know an ARG when you see it, but you can't

> really describe what an ARG is or isn't?


It is not missing puzzles, per my comments above. But I do believe it is 
currently missing narrative, yes. I require narrative to believe in an 
alternate reality. This lack of narrative is also why I can't (yet) 
accept it as "chaotic fiction".

-- 
Morbus Iff ( insert pithy quote here )
Technical: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/779
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