[arg_discuss] Topic of the Week July 13: Why are you here?

[John Evans]

Note to self: Hire Mike and Brian to provide confusing philosophical babble for an ARG...

I'm here because in 2004 I found something on the web called "This is Not Pron".
(Still available at http://notpron.com , assuming it's the same one; I don't remember
well enough to verify it.)  Anyway, I think nowadays we'd call it a puzzle trail.
Also around that time I was learning PHP to enable a new hobby—creating
web-based games in the vein of Kingdom of Loathing and such experiences.
I thought to myself—"I could do this".  So I worked up this little teaser image
and posted it somewhere...

...and then a friend of mine said "Say, is this anything like 'I Love Bees'?".
...and then I found Unfiction, prompting a cry of "Uh-oh, what have I gotten
myself INTO?".

I come at the topic mostly from the perspective of games.  ARGs are kind of
like MMORPGs, in a sense.  (For example, both have acronyms that seem
ultimately meaningless but that we're probably stuck with!)  Asheron's Call
has been releasing monthly events and updates for years.  Sometimes they
even incorporate player input, but it's usually just one player being
recorded as doing something that didn't really impact the story.  "Urist
Swordwielder was the one to finally activate the switch in the Dark Castle
after 100 players spent an hour searching for it", that sort of thing. Here's
another example; in December of last year, Kingdom of Loathing had an
event where players fought "the Crimbomination", a Godzilla-sized
monster that required thousands of attacks from players before it was
defeated.  Fighting it occasionally yielded message along these lines:
"It picks you up in one betaloned tentacle and throws you at
<player name>, your fellow adventurer. It probably hurt him as much
as it hurt you. Well, we can hope."  The point was that <player name>
was some randomly chosen other player who had also been fighting
the monster.  ...And players thought this was awesome and innovative!
They really enjoyed this new kind of interaction with other players in
the KoL world.  That reaction actually bewildered me, because really, one
of the true strengths of online games is that you can *so easily* get
players interacting with each other.  I just think there's a lot of untapped
potential for cool experiences in this area.

So, that's where I'm coming from.  Online games, web-based experiences,
a bit of roleplaying, I even did some collaborative writing some years
back that probably influences me in ways I don't even realize.  (And I
even learned LPC, but that's a different branch of things than Diku, of
course!)  So, how could I NOT get into ARGs?

--
John Evans
Chaoseed Software - http://chaoseed.com

-----Original Message-----

>From: Andrea Phillips <andrhia at gmail.com>

>Sent: Jul 13, 2009 9:02 AM

>To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG <arg_discuss at igda.org>

>Subject: [arg_discuss] Topic of the Week July 13: Why are you here?

>

>This week's topic: What drew you into ARGs, and what keeps you

>interested in them? For those of you who arrived at the same forms

>independently, can you chime in with your thought processes on what

>you were trying to do, and tell us whether it worked out the way you

>expected it to?

>

>If you have a suggestion for a Topic of the Week, feel free to add it in here:

>http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php?title=Alternate_Reality_Games_SIG/ToW_Ideas

>

>Or if you're a little shy, email me about it and I'll put it in

>myself. Have a great week, everyone!

>

>-- 

>Andrea Phillips

>http://www.aaphillips.com

>AIM: Andrh1a * Skype: Andrhia

>Words * Culture * Interaction

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