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 Forum index » Updates » Press and Other Analysis
Collective Gaming in the News...
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Cortana
Decorated


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 200
Location: Arlington, VA

 		Collective Gaming in the News...
Mark Ward of the BBC wrote an article on collective gaming this weekend

"It is not just many hands that make light work. Many minds do too.

New forms of collaboration on the net are giving rise to clever crowds able to solve challenges and puzzles that most individuals would struggle to tackle alone. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/2735905.stm

neat.

Cortana.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2003 12:07 pm
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Tien_Le
Charter Member


Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 878
Location: corner of no and where

 		I'm thinking it would have been nice if Mark Ward had checked his facts before he wrote this article.

Quote from article:
"The power of collective thought has helped other members to win prizes. One won a BMW Z4 roadster after getting help to solve clues hidden in websites and short films the manufacturer had used to promote the car."

If people will refer to this article: http://www.unfiction.com/compendi/features/uncap.html they'll learn that the winner of the BMW was not part of any collective effort at all. He solved it on his own. He was the 43rd person to solve/register. I'm fairly certain his winning entry was tendered before cd.org opened it's doors.

Another quote from the article:
"One, called Chasing the Wish, is due to launch in late 2003 and is designed to be an ongoing online game as well as a real world treasure hunt."

Doesn't the game start this month? Very Soon we've been told.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2003 2:27 pm
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Cortana
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 200
Location: Arlington, VA

 		As I said on Dan's blog "since when have reporters been known to get it all right" however, for a growing community, there's no such thing as bad press. While it may paint CD in a more favorable light than perhaps you might have done, it's still nice to see this sort of community gaining press following.

Cortana.

Tien_Le wrote:
I'm thinking it would have been nice if Mark Ward had checked his facts before he wrote this article.

Quote from article:
"The power of collective thought has helped other members to win prizes. One won a BMW Z4 roadster after getting help to solve clues hidden in websites and short films the manufacturer had used to promote the car."

If people will refer to this article: http://www.unfiction.com/compendi/features/uncap.html they'll learn that the winner of the BMW was not part of any collective effort at all. He solved it on his own. He was the 43rd person to solve/register. I'm fairly certain his winning entry was tendered before cd.org opened it's doors.

Another quote from the article:
"One, called Chasing the Wish, is due to launch in late 2003 and is designed to be an ongoing online game as well as a real world treasure hunt."

Doesn't the game start this month? Very Soon we've been told.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2003 2:40 pm
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SpaceBass
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Joined: 20 Sep 2002
Posts: 2701
Location: pellucidar
Cortana wrote:
As I said on Dan's blog...

...which can be found here, with some excellent discussion.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2003 3:12 pm
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Diandra
Unfettered


Joined: 27 Sep 2002
Posts: 390

 		Attn: Mr. Ward
I wrote Mr. Ward. Here's my letter:

Quote:
Dear Mr. Ward:

I wrote to thank you for writing about, and thus bringing attention to, the genre players often refer to as Alternate Reality Gaming, or ARGing.

I also feel compelled to mention a few points about your February 10 article.

While the headline reads "Online Communities...", in your article only one, Collective Detective, was featured. There are several ARG community sites in existence, and the others don't charge members a fee to participate. Please visit www.unfiction.com for an example. At the top of the site, you'll find a banner linking several member sites in the Alternate Reality Gaming Network. Various Yahoo Groups are also dedicated to solving these games.

Let me also point out that CD is not the only community with ARG success stories. I can personally attest to the fact that Unfiction has has tasted victory as well. In the Chasing the Wish mini-quest, a sort of preview of the game (which, incidentally, is slated to launch this month, not in late 2003 as stated in your column), the members of Unfiction took the top prizes. In fact, I was first to solve the final clue collaborating with other UF members in the #Unfiction IRC channel.

I also was unaware that TerraQuest was discontinued due to the efforts of the CD membership, as implied in your article. It was my understanding that the game did not have enough of a subscriber base to be profitable. Keith Griffin, President/CEO of Mind-Quest, released a statement that specifically said, "We want to thank you for your enthusiasm in playing TerraQuest. While the comments from those of you who are players have been wonderful, there is simply not enough participation in the experience to keep this version of TerraQuest going. As a result, we will discontinue TerraQuest immediately." See www.terraquest1.com for the full statement.

Again, thank you for choosing to write about ARGing. I'd love to see another column featuring the games that are currently being played and the web-based communities that support them. Unless more people are aware of this genre of online entertainment, we may not have the opportunity to experience future online ARGs. I sincerely appreciate your efforts to bring this information to a more mainstream audience via BBC.


We'll see if they print it or if I get a personal response.

Dia
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2003 11:59 pm
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jamesi
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 2195
Location: Canadia

 		Very nice letter... sophisticated, free of senseless metaphor and subtleties... I like it! Wink
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2003 12:07 am
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konamouse
Official uF Dietitian


Joined: 02 Dec 2002
Posts: 8010
Location: My own alternate reality

 		Diandra wrote
Quote:
I wrote Mr. Ward. Here's my letter:


As a newbie member of a few online communities, I feel that your letter was very appropriate.

It does seem like this self-professed reporter was not very thorough in his research and took the easy way out for creating his article. Yes, it is great to get publicity for this particular genre of online entertainment and socialization (for the record, I found immersive gaming/ARGN communities via Push, NV). However, the preponderance of errors in known facts makes other information questionable. And I am glad to read that members in here have not resorted to negative attacks on the, unfortunately, only community mentioned in the article, especially since some info credited to them was not how they would specifically claim.

I have to wonder what jump started him to write the column in the first place. [/quote]
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2003 12:03 pm
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vpisteve
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Joined: 30 Sep 2002
Posts: 2441
Location: 1987
konamouse wrote:

It does seem like this self-professed reporter was not very thorough in his research and took the easy way out for creating his article.
...However, the preponderance of errors in known facts makes other information questionable.


I agree. Looks like he made the mistake of assuming his source was giving him truthful information without independently verifying it. Writing an article based on secondhand information usually necessitates verification before publication, doesn't it?

PostPosted: Wed Feb 19, 2003 10:14 pm
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Diandra
Unfettered


Joined: 27 Sep 2002
Posts: 390

 		No response
Just an update...

As of yet, I've received no response to my letter. Frankly, a columnist with this degree of journalistic integrity probably has little motivation to even acknowledge my correspondence.

No matter. I felt something needed to be said, and I said it. By publishing my letter here, I reached the community of people to which it probably meant the most. I truly appreciate this forum and the support of the people who populate it.

Dia
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 19, 2003 11:32 pm
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Dark Side Of The Moon
Decorated


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 167
Location: Between the outer edge of inner space and the inner edge of Outer Space...

 		Thanks Di....ditto here and back at ya...8^)
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 20, 2003 7:48 am
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