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[Varin]

[Phaedra]

[Phaedra]

[addlepated]

[addlepated]

Couple of items of feedback so far:

- It would be nice if the dates on the messages correlated to current dates. I think it would add a nice sense of immediacy, that the story is taking place in the now and you are really watching it play out.

- I'm not so big on the political stuff. I know it's probably character development, but as has been discussed on the board earlier, it tends to rip me out of the fiction and yank me into the real world, which sort of negates the issue. Others have an opposite reaction. I have a feeling it has to do with your own personal viewpoints, as well.

- I'm getting a strange CSS declaration at the top of the mails: "
#mystyle5 { color: black; } #mystyle5 td,p { font-size: 16px; font-family: arial; color: black; } #mystyle5 a { text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold; color: blue; } #mystyle5 a:hover { text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold; color: red; }"

[Phaedra]

[Dorkmaster]

I shouldn't even comment, as I just received the three email preview, and am NOT participating in the groupread.... However, I wanted to add my commentary to at least those first three emails:

For something innovative like this, I feel that the email addresses should NOT work, but the websites should. Obviously, it's really impossible to deal with the potential of massive email attacks if everyone in the game tried to communicate. It just would bring the story down. You can't account for that (unless it's a true ARG (^-^)) But, having at least a one page placeholder for each referenced website or domain should be there, as the whole idea is that this is real and you are "eavesdropping".

So if I want to check out west coast publishing or whatever it was, then there should be a west coast website... Doesn't have to be detailed, or even necessarily "good" It just needs to be there.

Also, in terms of the dates: This is the #1 reason I am NOT doing this for money... It wouldn't be too hard (especially in a groupread when EVERYONE gets the emails at the same time!!!) to date the emails for the appropriate time. I also don't see why you couldn't "bot" it somehow so it always cranks out the appropriate months or whatever even in a non-collective reading. But the point with this is that it is the single most contributor to a dissolution of my suspension of disbelief...

In short, it makes it less immersive by far. Everyone checks the dates of emails. That's how we know sometimes if they're new or important. So to use this medium effectively, they need to put more emphasis in making the experience "feel right".

Again, I'm not bashing. I really like the concept and I think the fee is appropriate, and I'm sure the story is genuinely good! I just can't get over these couple of humps that I feel are just too integral for them to have missed.

Sorry to be a downer though. I sincerely hope you all enjoy it and I hope I am proven totally wrong by those who truly get immersed in it despite what I've said!

[Phaedra]

[krystyn]

It is entirely possible that the dates of these e-mails correspond to the mystery itself, and so are entirely relevant, if not 'realistic' or 'immersive' in general ARGish terms.

[Phaedra]

<chuckle>

Maybe we should have labeled this a META thread.

[Phaedra]

Well, article written, plans to move on to a new subject made.

That was short.

[Codini]

gumps.com

[addlepated]

You know, as someone who's written a few back-dated blogs for various games, I really appreciate all the nice detail the Daughters of Freya story has. It's a real pain sometimes to make sure all your story and character milestone dates match up, and they have done a great job with it.