[arg_discuss] Toyota lawsuit

[Luci Temple]

I agree with Andrea that a key mistake Toyota made was targeting someone who
hadn't opted in, which is ethically wrong, regardless of legality. The
second mistake was being too directly threatening in the content - 'I know
where you live, I am coming to your place, and I am a violent criminal on
the run", opening the way for potential misinterpretation and fear.

I'm working on an arg hybrid and during intital brainstorming we were
tossing around ideas, and one of the many we discussed casually was a
scenario where there's an Al Queda terrorist cell you have to uncover -
which very quickly sparked warning signs, that this could easily become
confused if non-participants overheard elements and thought it was a real
threat. We need to be mindful that people come into contact with ARG
material in any number of ways and won't always see it the way core gamers
will. The best ARGs invite the suspension of disbelief, but do have slight
clues in the fine print (eg, secondary articles in a fake newspaper site)
that it's not real, so any investigation would make it evident that there's
no threat.

Having said that, Mela's point that the friend was the one who divulged the
information does raise a question... for all we know the alleged victim and
her friend could have seen this game as an opportunity to sting a big
company to gain a huge payout. If you set up your ARG in an
unethical/illegal manner, maybe you get what's coming one way or another.

Luci