unforum

[mntndust]

[SPEC] Sonia's Disappearance

[Rekidk]

I think that SMH is over--after all, legally, we the players only had to answer eight puzzles (eight days) to get our share of the prize.

However, it's clearly setting up for a sequel. BTW, if you guys do a sequel involving Sonia... I will play.

Yes, it was easy. Yes, it had a few bugs. But in the end, it was a fun diversion with an interesting story--and all the winners got a little prize for their efforts. In the end, I liked this game, and I had fun with it.

Thanks to Court TV, Applebees, and--oh, that other company that never got any advertising.

[MsKat537]

Don't you worry none about Sonia ...

[mntndust]

I saw a website, behind the buzz

[Phaedra]

I think both sides have valid points here.

On one hand, everyone who played got a week of free entertainment, and it must have been fun somehow, or most people would not have continued to play.

On the other hand, if people invested a lot of time and energy into the game because it started out cool, but feel, at the end, like their investment was wasted, then that is a valid reason to be upset.

As someone who's both been an active player and worked on the other side of the curtain, and who frequently writes about and reports on the genre, I feel that the biggest obligation you have to your players as a designer is to do your best to set their expectations correctly. That can be difficult -- sometimes you think you've done a good job of conveying some sense of what the game is going to be like ("this is going to be an epic adventure," or "this is going to be a light puzzle trail"), and people still get different ideas about it and end up disappointed or angry or feeling like you promised something you didn't deliver.

But for those who are disappointed and are interested in delivering constructive criticism (not that I have any knowledge of whether the Deep Focus people are reading this thread, but it's an interesting conversation nonetheless) -- what were you expecting, and why were you expecting it, and how were your expectations not met?

[arg_newbie_lovin_it]

Ok...

[Dragonflymaiden]

Sonia's Disappearance

[Phaedra]

As I believe has been stated elsewhere, if you enjoy solving puzzles with a community, you may want to take a look at the puzzle trails in our Timewasters forum. A lot of them have already been completed, but there's no reason why you guys can't have a go at them as a group.

[chelec]

Hi mntndust, the behind the buzz post is from me. The audience for that blog (don't think I'm quite press yet!) is marketers and I was trying to pick up lessons to be learnt for companies that try this in the future. I love ARGs, I have great fun playing them, but from a corporate perspective there were a lot of problems with this and a lot of lessons - primarily, use someone experienced in the genre otherwise things can easily go wrong. Also never underestimate your audience and the different groups that can play it. The reason ARGs can be such a good way of marketing is that they are fun - it's not a one way message but the customer gets something out of it as well. (unlike a lot of advertising, which is just blast one way)

And if they are going to do a part 2, I'll be there playing as well. But also preying they fix the bugs this time

Thanks for your comment, and I guess the other comments from people who came there from this forum.

[Phaedra]

Hi chelec,

I thought it was a good post (cropped up in one of my Google Alerts) that sort of outlined the need for designers to be prepared to deal with UF; for that matter, it doesn't have to be UF -- any community can morph, in a flash, into a Borg-like unstoppable information-seeking collective if presented with the incentive to do so. (See also the experiences of the Lonelygirl15 creators.) I don't think companies should be designing with us as their sole target audience, but it's not that hard to find out that we're out there and likely to take an interest in anything ARG-like, and to understand the potential consequences of that attention. (And, as I said elsewhere, to at least consider how to set the audience's expectations correctly.)

I'm curious as to what you thought about the confusion about whether it was real and whether they did enough to demonstrate that it wasn't -- you touch on other people's reactions in your post, but don't offer an opinion of your own.

Anyway, if you are interested, we discussed that particular aspect (and the premature discovery of a lot of the content) in the ARG Netcast and will probably be doing a post-game discussion at some point, so we'd love it if you'd call in and offer your thoughts (I was planning to discuss your post if we end up talking about SMH for the next one).

[skellum]

where is she? Suzuki v. Applebee's

[chelec]

Hi Phaedra - you're right, I didn't necessarily put my own opinion about that reaction and you've got me thinking I should do an additional post about that. Not having seen the tv ads nor the online ads before they changed, I was reluctant to comment, but i've got some opinions that I've write up.

I'm completely surprised at that reaction - the framing of everything that I saw was as a commercial effort, not any way real, especially when you compare this to other games which are not 'professional'. It's the mass media element and the extension to a wider audience that through things here. Kidnappings are usually on the news or have credits at the end of the hour, so this was outside the frame of reference I guess.

And i'd love to chime in on the ARGNetcast about it - Pm in about when (either here or through the blog details)

[Cassdm]

Thoughts on SMH and where Sonia is