Author
Message
Thunderwolf
Unfettered
Joined: 18 Aug 2005 Posts: 419 Location: The Sprawl
mqbwc wrote:
Call me naive, but what is so off about that e-mail? To me it just seems like they're explaining why there were no updates.
It's not just that email, it's the whole thing. First of all the PM posts in character on a UF thread. Then the sign up asks for a number of bits of information which generally don't get asked in a trailhead (not necessarily a bad thing, but it destroys TINAG). Then there's the long delays followed by an OOG excuse (which sounds a bit lame - power cables? really?). And then there's the "points incentive" to get people to respond quickly to the email with... their usernames? As mentioned before (and not just by me), the feeling of TINAG is pretty much evaporated.
I've played enough ARGs to get a feel for what feels right, and at the moment, this one doesn't. As I said before, this may be due to my own paranoia, it may be due the the PM's inexperience running ARGs. I'm still sticking with this one, but people should be wary about how much genuine information about themselves they give out. And make sure you never send out your password or your mother's maiden name.
_________________"OK, now what you gotta do is go down the road past the old Johnson place. You're gonna find two roads, one parallel and one perpendicular. Now keep going until you come to a highway that bisects it at a 45-degree angle. Solve for x."
Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 4:57 pm
kn354
Boot
Joined: 24 Oct 2013 Posts: 24 Location: Not even close...
I've replied to the email as well. I've never seen any of the Saw movies, so I have no idea what the survey has to do with it. I'm suspecting it could be a horror ARG if we get any hints to it. How is the survey similar to the Saw movies anyway?
Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 6:11 pm
RingmasterJ5
Boot
Joined: 12 Mar 2014 Posts: 58
kn354 wrote:
I've replied to the email as well. I've never seen any of the Saw movies, so I have no idea what the survey has to do with it. I'm suspecting it could be a horror ARG if we get any hints to it. How is the survey similar to the Saw movies anyway?
A survey from a guy only known as "FRIEND" that asks a bunch of personality questions about positions of power and following instructions(ending with the horror-movie-tagline-esque "Are you happy?") instantly struck me as sounding like some sort of "application letter" for Jigsaw's "tests" in those movies.
Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 11:33 pm
Thunderwolf
Unfettered
Joined: 18 Aug 2005 Posts: 419 Location: The Sprawl
I got an email ffrom "FRIEND" today with "a small section of the scores column":
Score
1
1
0
0
1
0
2
0
1
0
1
3
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
4
1
Apparently I was first to reply so I got 5 points. anyone else receive notification of the points awarded?
There was also an image attached showing an Amazon purchase of a laptop power supply.
Description
Filesize
45.23KB
74 Time(s)
Unfortunately, this file is no longer in our archives.
_________________"OK, now what you gotta do is go down the road past the old Johnson place. You're gonna find two roads, one parallel and one perpendicular. Now keep going until you come to a highway that bisects it at a 45-degree angle. Solve for x."
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 4:08 am
kittenshoes
Greenhorn
Joined: 02 May 2014 Posts: 5 Location: moscow, russia
i just got an email saying i got one point.
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 4:17 am
mrshomersimpson
Entrenched
Joined: 10 Jun 2012 Posts: 998 Location: scotland
I really want to join in this one.
However like thunder mentioned I am slightly holding back at the moment - simply because it doesn't feel right.
I also have no idea why they would sent an email attachment for a laptop powercord
I can't decide if i should pitch in or just wait for a few more pages and lurk to see what happens.
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 8:33 am
RingmasterJ5
Boot
Joined: 12 Mar 2014 Posts: 58
mrshomersimpson wrote:
I also have no idea why they would sent an email attachment for a laptop powercord
It looks like it's being used to "prove" their claim about the delay here:
LETSBEFRIENDSARG wrote:
We are sorry about the lack of anything happening. This was due to an incident that was my(the Operator's) fault, the power cord for this computer was damaged in a power surge a few months back but continued to work until recently if prompted. I had to wait to get a new one. Fortunately we had backups of everything needed for administration and were able to keep registration open. How ever many things were delayed such as the website, the new registration system, the Youtube channel, and setting up the challenges. I am deeply sorry about this, it was completely due to my negligence, as I had foreseen the cable going out but did not replace it until after it went out. Therefore I have decided it would a good idea to regularly back-up the data needed.
Note that this is their second delay, the first being... Wait a minute, what the hell did that say?
LETSBEFRIENDSARG wrote:
We have not uploaded any videos yet because I(the one who does the videos on in the group) have ran distorted the audio to make my personal voice unrecognizable. I lost the settings used an I now have to find the settings again. As for the Twitter account our answer is a bit more complicated. We accidentally leaked most of the operator's full name onto the Twitter account. After the operator suffered amnesia from a unrelated accident, we have decide it would be best to not post anything on Twitter until we announce the website, which we are working full time on right now.
Amnesia. Seriously. The "operator", aka the OOG puppetmaster, had amnesia. From an "unrelated incident" that is not elaborated on in any way.
And that's not even getting into the "name leak", (why is that such a problem, anyway?) or the whole "we lost our voice settings" thing.
I'd say "fuck this, I'm out" if I didn't have some sort of morbid curiosity about the whole thing.
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 1:11 pm
mrshomersimpson
Entrenched
Joined: 10 Jun 2012 Posts: 998 Location: scotland
Laughing so much at the above post!
It's all true
My problem is the amount of specific information they require to even sign up.
Granted most of it says optional - but why should I need to be specific about my operating system?! lol I just... the mind boggles.
I agree so much with the post above mine. If i wasn't so curious I would just be like no thanks phishing scam.
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 1:37 pm
RingmasterJ5
Boot
Joined: 12 Mar 2014 Posts: 58
I've just noticed that the dates look to be correct on the laptop order attachment(as in, it would have to have been been ordered days before the email to be estimated for the 8th), but the other three reasons that I mentioned above are definitely more suspect.
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 2:32 pm
kn354
Boot
Joined: 24 Oct 2013 Posts: 24 Location: Not even close...
I haven't received an email yet. Weird. I got the other emails, but not this one with the scores. Maybe he forgot my email or something, or he's composing something different for me, I don't know . If this has something to do with Saw, or Jigsaw, or whatever, leave me out of it! I freak out easily with horror.
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 11:28 pm
Thunderwolf
Unfettered
Joined: 18 Aug 2005 Posts: 419 Location: The Sprawl
RingmasterJ5 wrote:
Amnesia. Seriously. The "operator", aka the OOG puppetmaster, had amnesia. From an "unrelated incident" that is not elaborated on in any way.
And that's not even getting into the "name leak", (why is that such a problem, anyway?) or the whole "we lost our voice settings" thing.
Maybe the main character in the ARG is an inexperienced puppetmaster running an ARG? That would be meta as hell. ARGception. Or something
RingmasterJ5 wrote:
I'd say "fuck this, I'm out" if I didn't have some sort of morbid curiosity about the whole thing.
My thoughts exactly. My advice to everyone is to supply "character" data instead of real data. And keep an eye on your firewall logs.
_________________"OK, now what you gotta do is go down the road past the old Johnson place. You're gonna find two roads, one parallel and one perpendicular. Now keep going until you come to a highway that bisects it at a 45-degree angle. Solve for x."
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 4:35 am
CenterOfOrion
Boot
Joined: 04 Aug 2011 Posts: 12 Location: Under the bed
Wow, it's been way too long since I got involved in one of these... I just sent off an email. Call me too trusting, but with the exception of the OS question, the information it asked for didn't seem like it could be particularly dangerous... But I used an ARG-only email and altered my info just in case =P Really, this screams to me newbie puppetmaster who doesn't know the genre very well, which I suppose doesn't bode well for the game itself. But, we shall see.
Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 11:53 pm
Feldheim_C
Greenhorn
Joined: 30 Jun 2011 Posts: 4
I sent out an email to the trailhead and have received nothing back yet, not even a "your in" response or anything, seems a bit disheartening.
Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 7:27 pm
kittenshoes
Greenhorn
Joined: 02 May 2014 Posts: 5 Location: moscow, russia
it has been a while since the last email. i replied to the last message they sent me. has anyone else contacted them recently?
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 2:07 am
kn354
Boot
Joined: 24 Oct 2013 Posts: 24 Location: Not even close...
I just sent them an email asking them about what's going on, our drawing connections to horror films and such, and about why I didn't receive an email about the points. I'll let you know what and when they respond.
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 9:05 pm
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