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[elfis]

MemeJacking UFOs - Examples of Hijacking Viral Markets

[FLmutant]

Color me guilty as charged, good buddy.

Here would be my issue: hijacking implies a desire to alter the existing state of the meme. That seems like a cruel knife, much the way some people look at our "fiction" and instead see "lies". Artists use themes plucked from all ranges of inspiration, but that doesn't mean they're attempting to hijack all of them. Part of art's job is to reflect that stuff back at us again, right?

Example -- "Who is Benjamin Stove?" was an ARG we did for General Motors to promote ethanol awareness. It used a crop-circle theme through much of its narrative, heaped up with an almost "Chariot of the Gods" campiness. At the same time, it also set alot of the action in Brazil, in part because of what was happening there with the ethanol revolution. The crop-circle became an easy narrative device for moving the action from place to place -- where they were happening was more important than why they were happening (poor Ben Stove wasn't the most lucid of old coots.)

It would be incorrect to think that planting false crop circle information into the crop circle researcher community was a goal: these were all shaped like ethanol molecules, for crying out loud, which should be a wink to a community that has far more ambitious pranksters. No crops were harmed in the making of "Who is Benjamin Stove?" but it did produce Foily:

[rose]

I'm sorry, I don't understand the question.

[sixsidedsquare]

I think it is only natural for any story at all to try to tap into existing demographics and memes. The thing with any piece of fiction is that it can only actually start when it starts, and will end when it ends. This of course is different for different mediums; movies and books starting when you begin them and only last until they are finished, ARGs similarly have a running time, though it is more a set time than the spontaneous nature of movies/books. The trick of course is how to extend your world beyond the confines imposed by this temporal restriction? The obvious answer is to draw links it to things which are already existing in the real world and will still be there once your story's wold has ended (be these mythos, conspiracies, memes etc.).

I guess some of what you are getting at though, is when things are done so well that parts over time leak back into the original source, adding to or even distorting it. Take for example the legend of Atlantis (something close to my heart ). The original solid source of the myth is only from 2 dialogues written by Plato, Timaeus and Critias. Over time many other people have borrowed from the tale, be it in speculations, fiction or even in their lives (such as the Atlantis psychics), and all this has added much more to the tale itself, with the later works even borrowing from added material and adding to it.

Another great example of story permeating into reality permeating into story is the whole Pine Barrens/egg travel stuff. I wont go into the details of it (I imagine you know it elfis, and others can look it up if interested) but what it nicely brings up is how with something without an open 'owner' as such, canon is decided by the individuals or groups involved with it. Confirmation bias (choosing to accept what you agree with and deny/ignore that which you don't) often plays a large part of this sort of thing, much like it does in conspiracy theories too (in my opinion).

But yeah, I agree with FLmutant that there is a big distinction between using something to add to your story, and taking advantage of something purely to aid your purpose. I guess there defiantly is overlap, but using something just to ride the buzz around it is underhanded in my opinion, though it happens a lot. There is also the flip side I suppose to, like you seem to be getting at quite a bit elfis, purposely trying to distort what you are borrowing from for your own means. This takes the underhanded to a whole new level and I can see how it could be used for things, but I have to say I think this is rare (call me naive, or not crazy depending on your conformation bias ) especially ARGwise where most things are just using sources to aid in extending their world and with reality penetration (oooh, I like that term!).

[notgordian]

Goldstein Collection posted about receiving radio communications from the dead on a paranormal discussion board that dealt with the phenomenon...

[rose]

So the question is about which ARGs have used UFOs or such phenomena in the story?

[elfis]

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

[FLmutant]

[elfis]

[FLmutant]

I have read Coleman: censors always feel they aren't really censors.

[rose]

Would World without oil count as a game that involved real-world political activists? I'm not sure how many activists played it.

Investigation of strange phenomenom probably includes monster hunters club which was a game for the movie called the Host. They had some people who were into extreme body modification, I think. Actually monster hunters club might qualify as the people were hunting for monsters.

I think the use of the term "hijack" in the first post confused me. I think of these groups as a possible "audience" for a game, not people who are being used or harmed in some way.

[konamouse]

Correlation does NOT imply cause & effect. That was drummed into me in grad school. But still people use those statistics to prove points that meets their own agendas.

Just want to thank all of you posting in this thread. I love the intelligence in this community (it's a pleasant diversion from all the kiddie crap in the 1-18-08 forum).

As for "Collective Detective" - my last recollection was they tried to use the site for a financial purposes and failed.

[Silent|away]

[Shutaro]

[elfis]