Author
Message
NashCarey
Veteran
Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 102 Location: Nierstein, Germany
OHHHH! There was a game that started like that..... Majestic....
_________________Hegemony is another word for hypocrisy. -- me
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:19 am
Varin
I Have No Life
Joined: 02 Dec 2002 Posts: 2456 Location: South of where I used to be
Slyfox wrote:
Here's a hypothetical. Could a game based around the concept of ARGing work? The characters within the game would all be ARGing fans playing an ARG within an ARG. You could then have the situation where the PMs running the characters are posting on sites like UF using Character names about the ARG they are playing which would effectively put sites like UF in game.
Ouch, that makes my brain hurt. Reminds me of a PS2 game. In the game (which isn't an online game) you are playing an online RPG. There are other players playing this online RPG also that you communicate and interact with. Problem is the game isn't online and all of the other people playing the online RPG are really characters of the game.
_________________"I still miss him to this day and probably always will." - Todd Keeler, Chasing the Wish
"meta meta meta, I made you out of play..." ~ j5
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 1:30 pm
BrianEnigma
Entrenched
Joined: 05 Oct 2003 Posts: 1199 Location: Pacific Northwest
Okay, so rewinding a few posts to the original meta discussion about rules and guidelines, I figured it might be a good idea to write down a few and stick them in the Syzygy guide. I think having a set of guidelines is most beneficial to those new to the ARG world, and it would seem Syzygy may very well be a source of lots of new people based on its track record so far.
At any rate, I took some FAQ data I wrote for the MU archives and rolled up a bunch of the sentiment from this thread's posts, fluffed it all up, and stuck it into a sort of "new to ARGs" section at the beginning of the reference. Feel free to agree, argue, or ask why I may have left something out. All the entries really just boil down to common sense, but in a world as mysterious as an ARG, a newbee may not intuitively know the ramifications of his/her actions.
http://syzygy.netninja.com/multi/intro.html#dosdonts
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:44 pm
krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice
Joined: 26 Sep 2002 Posts: 3651 Location: Is not Chicago
Wolf wrote:
For instance, the URL for the USH logo on Wongmo's site was something like www.underscorehosting.com/logo/wongmo.jpg and the one for CV was www.underscorehosting.com/logo/cascade.jpg--so if somebody linked to the logo the properties would give away that they stole the logo location from elsewhere...
I think additionally, Space put in protection so that any site other than the intended one that wanted to grab the image would end up with a Forbidden/broken image. IIRC.
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 1:03 am
rose
...and then Magic happens
Joined: 26 Nov 2003 Posts: 4117
rules, guidelines I wanted to add something that just came to mind. I don't think that players should give in-game characters information about other players, at least without getting permission first.
For example, I live in New York which I guess is generally known to people here at unfiction, even though it's not in my profile. Still, I wouldn't want people volunteering that information to a character, without asking me. Same thing goes for other information about me.
And, I wouldn't want a player to tell a character about interactions I had with another character, without permission. One example: In aware, certain characters are in complete opposition. I wouldn't want another player to act as an informant about my interactions.
I'm not speaking to any one specific incident, just something I thought we should consider adding.
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 1:42 pm
aiesha_anonymous
Veteran
Joined: 18 Jun 2003 Posts: 101 Location: Australia
i agree completely with rose about not giving out RL info to anyone without permission (whether a realperson or a character).
i'm not so sure about asking players not to share information about in-game actions though. i agree that the courteous, community-minded thing to do would be to ask permission but how much can we expect an individual to alter the way they want to play the game based on choices made by other players?
for example a player might want to defect to another 'side' in the game and might need to trade information in order to do so, in essence betraying the people he/she had been working with. would it be okay for said player to do that? would the expectation be that they inform the other players? or would the expectation be that they only do so if given permission by the majority and otherwise continue to play the line chosen by the group.
i don't have an answer for this but i think it's an interesting question. what rights does the individual have in a group gaming situation?
would it be a case of, if you learnt the information via the forums (an out-of-game resource) it's off-limits without permission, but if information is gained through an in-game interaction (e.g. an IRC chat) then it's fair-game?
yours (not actually intending to make things complicated)
aiesha
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:54 pm
MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?
Joined: 06 Jun 2003 Posts: 2716 Location: State of Denial
Player Rules/ PM Rules Along with Marts 10 rules (or another way of stating the rules), there is a "gentelman's agreement" between the Players and PM's
Players will not do a direct hack against in game servers, PM's will not post to the Player forums under their own nick or assumed nicks, nor encourage anyone else working on the game with them to do so.
The main reasons for this are...
Brute force directed against the PM's server is bad for not just the PM, but also the players that come in after the attack (use of too much bandwidth, possibly causing a server crash or other degradation of material on the server), which may ruin both everyone's enjoyment and may inadvertantly cause the game to end prematurely.
By precedent set early in ARGs it was decided to leave the player forums off limits to PM messages to allow the players to have one area that they knew they would be able to discuss and share ideas without interferance from "The Game" ... thus any PM posting a message to the forum would be of an announcement type nature only, when it involved the PM's own game. The BTS personnel are also assumed to follow this if they have a major role in the game, or if they have a smaller role, to remain silent while other players discuss that portion of the game. Please note this does not mean that the PM cannot read what the players are writing, sometimes this is the only way they will know Players are getting stuck on a puzzle. All hints from the PM should be from in-game sources and not hints given on the Player forums.
At least this is my understanding of the unwritten agreement between players and PM's.
_________________Magesteff
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 1:35 pm
danman_d
Decorated
Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 233 Location: New York, NY
Dos Centavos Here's the informal player's code that I've always kept in mind. Pretty simple:
Before acting, look at your proposed actions from the points of view of
- Yourself (umm, obviously)
- The entire player base
- The PM's
If the action would not be in the best interest of one of the named parties, don't do it, plain and simple.
It all boils down to the fact that the PM's work hard to provide players with an enjoyable experience! I'm not, of course, going to attempt brute forcing or hacking or any of that, but think about it before you do it. Is it going to damage the PM infrastructure? Is it going to ruin for the player base what would have been an enjoyable puzzle?
Remember, you play ARG's for puzzles! In the real world, if you could bypass a puzzle to get to real information, you'd sure as hell do it. Here, though, you're merely shooting yourself (and often the other players) in the foot. More plot is important, but having fun is the point!
_________________"Illegitimi non carborundum"
QmFzZTY0IGlzIGZvciBnZWVrcy4=
cW5hYWw= @ cGJ0YXZndmlydW5lemJhbA== . YXJn
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 9:24 pm
Varin
I Have No Life
Joined: 02 Dec 2002 Posts: 2456 Location: South of where I used to be
Re: Dos Centavos
danman_d wrote:
Here's the informal player's code that I've always kept in mind. Pretty simple:
Before acting, look at your proposed actions from the points of view of
- Yourself (umm, obviously)
- The entire player base
- The PM's
I kinda see it like watching a movie in the theatre. You should't stand up and scream out the ending to the movie. You shouldn't cause distractions throughout the movie. You shouldn't go up to the cubby up top and fast forward the movie on the projector to see the ending. You shouldn't dress up in a costume pretending to be a character and stand up in front of the screen (unless of course it's Rocky Horror). Basically, respect the fact that there are others playing this game with you.
_________________"I still miss him to this day and probably always will." - Todd Keeler, Chasing the Wish
"meta meta meta, I made you out of play..." ~ j5
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:39 pm
bill
Unfettered
Joined: 25 Sep 2002 Posts: 614 Location: Tampa
Re: Dos Centavos
Varin wrote:
You shouldn't dress up in a costume pretending to be a character and stand up in front of the screen (unless of course it's Rocky Horror).
Sometimes, it just might be Rocky Horror.
_________________
Bill
http://deaddrop.us/
Dedicated to Alternate Reality Gaming
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:59 pm
vpisteve
Asshatministrator
Joined: 30 Sep 2002 Posts: 2441 Location: 1987
A Rocky Horror ARG.
Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 11:42 pm
LazarusLong
Unfettered
Joined: 20 Mar 2003 Posts: 453 Location: 93 miles SW of Ted Kaczynski's cabin
Re: Dos Centavos
bill wrote:
Varin wrote:
You shouldn't dress up in a costume pretending to be a character and stand up in front of the screen (unless of course it's Rocky Horror).
Sometimes, it just might be Rocky Horror.
Now that would be a good idea for an ARG.... never mind!
One thing I always did when contemplating a questionable move in CTW was to pose the question in chat. Sometimes a seemingly great idea will get shot down, but it might inspire others to find a different solution.
_________________"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."
Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 11:49 pm
Varin
I Have No Life
Joined: 02 Dec 2002 Posts: 2456 Location: South of where I used to be
vpisteve wrote:
A Rocky Horror ARG.
Oooo Oooo can I be the maid, Magenta?
_________________"I still miss him to this day and probably always will." - Todd Keeler, Chasing the Wish
"meta meta meta, I made you out of play..." ~ j5
Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2004 5:16 pm
Simulacra
Veteran
Joined: 17 May 2003 Posts: 123 Location: Down the rabbithole
Re: Dos Centavos
danman_d wrote:
Remember, you play ARG's for puzzles!
We do?
I don't.
_________________The truth is out there, but it's keeping itself well hidden.
Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2004 9:12 pm
Sunny du Pree
Unfettered
Joined: 01 Jan 2003 Posts: 636 Location: Push, Nevada
Varin wrote:
vpisteve wrote:
A Rocky Horror ARG.
Oooo Oooo can I be the maid, Magenta?
Ill be Columbia!!!!!
_________________Grace and Peace
Sunny Du Pree
I dreamed a dream and now that dream has come for me
Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2004 2:07 am
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