[Aoibheann]

I am planning on taking part in WWO,
(my very first ARG )
and I thought that I would post the LiveJournal and VOX accounts that I have made

http://alycia.vox.com/
http://blesseddoll.livejournal.com/

I don't know if this thread is still active, but feel free to add me ... I can't wait until this starts!

~Aoi

[Phaedra]

He was a very nice reporter.

Asked very intelligent questions, too. Seemed genuinely interested in understanding the genre. So, he was Very Cool.

[Rekidk]

The Phaedra fan club applauds the awesome quotage in the Pitchfork article.

Also, just pointing this out in case anyone didn't see it (don't think it was posted): http://pachinko-chance.livejournal.com/

[nickyw]

There's an article on WWO in Pitchforkmedia.com today - and it links to this thread.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/42232-column-get-that-out-of-your-mouth-34

[Mikeyj]

mPathytest wrote:

mPathytest : ah good yes! so you are part of 2665TSOC? mPathytest : (infinity is a lot more powerful than 8 you know!)

Having linked to symbols.com I wondered whether mPathytest's 2013 mentioned further back down the thread might be of some significance. Symbol 20:13 is another figure 8 and is described as "20:13 · A sign for a sublimate made with sulphur according to Diderot's Encyclopedia."

Sulphur content is quite important in oil production and it has to be reduced before you can make useful stuff out of the oil. Also sulphate reducing bacteria (SRBs) convert sulphur compounds to hydrogen sulphide which corrodes (extensively) machinery used to extract the oil.

This one's piqued my curiosity.

[October]

rose wrote:

I looked through some of the books referenced on the Life After the Oil Crash site. None of them fits the life of someone living in a large city, in an apartment they can't easily modify. And I note that the emphasis seems to be on self-sufficiency... I am all for self-sufficiency, but we need to work together for the benefit of all of us as well as our individual best interests. Moving to the country isn't going to work for everyone. I'm sure we will get more resources pointed out to us.

This sort of touches on the question I've been asking myself about WWO. What, exactly will we be dealing with - a total *lack* of oil, as in, it's all gone, overnight, imported and domestic supplies alike, or a severe shortage and price jump, as what happened in the 1970's?

As for the Life After... website: I'm all for learning survival tools as well, but the fact is that an enormous about of people live in urban areas where things like growing their own food becomes a big problem. Maybe this is one of the questions we're supposed to address - how will infrastructure be affected, especially for people who live in urban areas, in the event of a sudden oil shock - and how will survival needs be addressed in that case? Self-sufficiency won't be even remotely possible for a great many people, not because of a lack of will or know-how but because of a lack of necessary resources - land, tools, seeds, etc. In order to survive, some people will turn to violence in order to control resources - but the smart ones who really want to survive will pull together and innovate ways to see their groups through. I'm not a huge Anne McCaffrey fan, but I did find "Freedom's Landing" to be a thoughtful read.

If the panic following the shock is anything like what happened during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, there will be a lot of people unable to get anywhere, so people like me, with just a tiny little back porch and no way to produce my own food, will be SOL when the grocery stores run dry (like, the same day as the crisis).

I also don't agree with the website's conclusion that there is Absolutely No Hope for our society's future. But then... that's maybe what the game is about - recognizing that the finding a solution to the "oil crisis" we've gotten ourselves into will require harnessing vision and innovation to cooperation and collaboration - sort of what we're doing by playing the game. I'm inspired to hope just because of what I've seen so far of the ARG community - thousands of minds, working together toward a common goal can truly save the world. Imagine bringing the collaboration we put into these games into the world of industry, science, engineering, etc. I wish I could say we have that now, but we don't. But maybe, in the very near future... we will.

[rose]

I looked through some of the books referenced on the Life After the Oil Crash site. None of them fits the life of someone living in a large city, in an apartment they can't easily modify. And I note that the emphasis seems to be on self-sufficiency... I am all for self-sufficiency, but we need to work together for the benefit of all of us as well as our individual best interests. Moving to the country isn't going to work for everyone. I'm sure we will get more resources pointed out to us.

I think that instead of more people living spread out in the country - more people should live in cities where mass transit and other shared resources can cut down energy consumption. If more buildings and schools were green, we could save a lot of energy.

I was in Vermont for vacation and heard the following ad on the radio. Vermont is considering adding a tax of some kind to vehicles that use more than a certain amount of gas per mile. (I'm not clear exactly how this works.) The ad was a businessman who claims that while he uses an energy-efficient car at home, he needs to use a lower efficiency van for delivering his goods. He asks "why should he have to pay more" because his van uses more gas. He complains about another tax being added to his expenses., he's just a small businessman trying to make a living...(as if he wouldn't pass the additional cost onto consumers anyway...) So it seems the idea behind the ad is that consumers should do what they can for energy efficiency but don't ask businesses to be part of it.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Regarding the April 8th comments on the WWO Livejournal...

If Al was willing to do such a prolonged one-on-one, surely we could convince him to do an IRC Q&A or other large web gathering. As the inventor of the internet, he should choose his preferred venue.

[MissWiSH]

I really had a chuckle over this. I told my husband about it, and some of you know he was in Iraq for a year awhile ago, and will probably be heading back.. the conversation went something like this:

me: Oooh, April 30th -- a new ARG is starting.. it's called "World Without Oil"
him: <blink> I think I already played that one.



Anyway, I'm in!!

[Ancheta]

Indeed, I believe there was some motivation from MPathyTest's message. I have yet to encounter any links to sites that don't provide at least some sort of clue. I would definitely keep that in mind as more is revealed.

[jwiv]

cissmiace wrote:

October wrote: I think you did just fine talkin' to him, CissMiace. That's kinda funny that he says "2665TSOC" but the symbol # for infinity (on the site he linked to) is 26:34. There's not a 26:65 that I can see. Thank you!!! I always panic for some reason haha! Yes I noticed that too!!

2665 is almost certainly a reference to the image link (as listed before)
http://www.symbols.com/old/pics/big/26/2665.gif Nothing else fits.

While this is synonomous with the classic symbol of infinity, it's not an exact match as this exact symbol focuses on infinity as expressed in mathematical systems.

From http://www.symbols.com/old/encyclopedia/25/251.html

Sometimes the concept of infinity in mathematical systems is expressed by the sign 26:34.

Just a subtle difference that may be important to keep in mind. It could be a red herring, but why choose this particular gif over the more classic sideways 8?

Thinking about it more, it could be mpathy just showing off his l33+ nerd knowledge and being cute about sayign 8TSOC.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

So, instead of the characters getting us to do their legwork, we can have them email their comgressperson or the head of Exxon? That'd be fun.

[OrangeForAHead]

I've seen www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net before, this time last year in fact, but I never did read through it all.

Ancheta wrote:

So, what do you all feel the objective of this ARG will be? What are we supposed to solve, do, figure out etc.?

What are you talking about? This is not a game!
There are a number of characters, and not all of them agree on how to handle business. I'm guessing that as we learn more about the characters, we will debate the different approaches they take. Also, a certain puppetmeister suggested that we would be asked to generate ideas. She also said that this would be the first player-puppeteered game. So really, what I think is going to happen is that we, the current players, and going to absorb this information and evangelize it by expanding the game world itself and reaching out to the unsuspecting as puppetmasters, in whatever manner we are told (or better, whatever manner we like!), inspired by lonelygirl15 and sfzero's user-generated content experiments. That's my meta spec.

[Ancheta]

Similar conversation, same links.

Quote:

HammerSickle08 (7:00:32 PM): It has been awhile. How are you? mPathytest (7:01:20 PM): hi hammer! i've been good but very very busy mPathytest (7:01:24 PM): thinking up a plan ^_^ mPathytest (7:01:44 PM): I want to show you something I just read HammerSickle08 (7:01:39 PM): Oh? Care to share? I really need something to perk up my own mood. Troubles with a certain gal friend of mine. mPathytest (7:02:20 PM): http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=5296 mPathytest (7:02:25 PM): I was really interested in the "understanding the power of humans to innovate" section. mPathytest (7:02:36 PM): oh no girl troubles!! HammerSickle08 (7:04:08 PM): Hah, hopefully this will distract me for awhile. My best friend and I have danced around the idea of dating for a while, and I've been in love with her for QUITE some time (though I've since set her up on a few dates, being a good friend and such) and she kinda told me she may return my feelings but needs to sort things out. One day she's flirty and wants me to persue others she's reserved and mentions other alternatives (though I generally bring them ot her attention, for some dumb reason) and meh. mPathytest (7:06:13 PM): oh yes, well few know the contents of a woman's heart, often including the woman herself mPathytest (7:06:53 PM): i hope things work out - she will come to her senses of you will meet an amazing girl commuting with strangers after we run out of oil and have to start sharing our cars ^_^ HammerSickle08 (7:07:28 PM): haha, thanks. HammerSickle08 (7:07:39 PM): Any idea how we're gonna run out of oil so soon? mPathytest (7:10:13 PM): well run out may be too strong a word -- but check this out for an explanation: http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/ HammerSickle08 (7:10:21 PM): hah, thanks! I'll read that after I finish this other article.

So, what do you all feel the objective of this ARG will be? What are we supposed to solve, do, figure out etc.?

EDIT: This is the only thing on the page I can find relatively related to 2665
http://www.symbols.com/pics/big/26/2665.gif

[cissmiace]

October wrote:

I think you did just fine talkin' to him, CissMiace. That's kinda funny that he says "2665TSOC" but the symbol # for infinity (on the site he linked to) is 26:34. There's not a 26:65 that I can see.

Thank you!!! I always panic for some reason haha!

Yes I noticed that too!!