unforum

[Mountain Girl]

[EMAIL] Virtuquest

[RedHatty]

One question I have for them is this:

What gave them the idea they had the right to use our real names rather than our chosen screen names in this game?

In this age of Identity theft, many of us are very careful with our online personas, ensuring that they don't reveal enough information about who we really are so as to make us a target of Identity theft.

We should have been given the option to a right to privacy. A simple, what name do you want to go by in this game question, would have been appreciated.

[WolfHawk]

I would have to agree about the real names. Although I realize they would not be seen by a lot of people it still would have been nice to be given the option.

Did Township Heights run as expected? By this I mean, was there actually supposed to be more interaction/length/etc.? If so then what happened to the rest?

I have been following a couple of free ARGs which have had a TON of content and interaction. There is something new almost every day. One other ARG I followed was similar in that the ending was both a surprise in its' shortness and a let down. (That one may yet restart, though, because of references to a mini-series coming up this summer.)

[MickeyFinn]

I definitely agree about the real names. I would not have signed up for this if I'd have known. As it is, I used a paypal account for a family business that isn't in my name, but that of another member of my family. I definitely wouldn't use their name as my handle, so I couldn't interact in the chat at all, which was really disappointing.

[dashcat]

I'd like to know the answer to all of the above....and...

Who are these guys?

[Mountain Girl]

I received another email from Virtuquest/JacobT.

[alrun]

[RedHatty]

Another Question for the VQC folks:

Jacob responded to MountianGirl with:

[WolfHawk]

Well I am a new player. This the first ARG I was in on from beginning to end.

It was frustrating in some ways. First, much of the interactions happened when I could not be active due to family or work obligations. Live interaction I know can't be "scheduled" in order to maintain the reality aspects. However, I would come into this forum to catch up and find a discussion about an email received by everyone. Except me. I would get the same email a day or two later. That was extremely frustrating as the rest of the players would have already found the necessary information from the email and have moved on to next problem presented in it. I ended up spoilering my way through the play lest I fall so far behind it would be over before I got started.

Second, I don't see how this could actually introduce new players to the genre. Much of what we "new players" need to learn is how to identify specific puzzle types and explore the various ways of solving them. But there was so much interaction by experienced players that personally, I learned nothing. One of the veterans would look at a puzzle, know immediately what kind it was, how to solve it and do so. It made me think why bother trying to solve it myself.

Maybe some sort of scale should be implemented like at the ski slopes - easy, moderate, difficult, etc. That way experienced players can work on more difficult problems and we noobs could trundle along learning how to play. That would prevent a lot of frustration. Experienced players wouldn't be disappointed because the game was easy and new players could learn the ropes.

I'm sure some of you will think I'm being whiny or something. If so I apologize. My intentions for this post is not to gripe, it is to, hopefully, give ARG devs and players something that might make the experience more enjoyable for all.

[MickeyFinn]

I think that's a great point, WolfHawk. I was also a bit peeved when I received emails a full day after other people got them. I think that if they meant to make a newbie-friendly ARG, they might have slowed down the pace a bit. I was so far behind from the beginning that I never had a chance to get caught up. It seems like most of the puzzles were solved so quickly that once i was a day behind, that was it for me. The emails running a day late didn't help matters either. Seems to me like they were having trouble keeping up as well, and they were the ones in charge of the game!

I'm sure i'm gonna get a right pop in the mouth for this, but....I think the ARG veterans had an advantage here. I mean, I don't think it was intentional at all. I'm just saying that most veterans have played ARGs that have much more going on, more complex puzzles, more interactive characters. They could probably have done this one in their sleep...blindfolded...one hand tied behind their back. So, I also think that added to the problem of newer people not being able to keep up.

Sorry to ramble...I'm probably completely in the wrong anyway...so I'll just stop there.

[WolfHawk]

Whew, I'm glad I wasn't the only one. Thanks for the post MF.

[ScarpeGrosse]

I dunno if this is the purported "memo" of discussion above, but I did find this in my research:
http://www.virtuquest.com/ce6-5/6-5.html

Including the following quote:

[Phaedra]

[konamouse]