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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Find the Lost Ring
[REPORTS] Training Event results
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thebruce
Dances With Wikis


Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 6899
Location: Kitchener, Ontario

 		[REPORTS] Training Event results
We've got threads for planning training events, so I thought we should have a thread sharing about training events that have completed - how they went, what we learned, tips and suggestions to help other peoples' attempts get off the ground faster and more successfully - let's train each other! Smile

Kitchener/Guelph Ontario Labyrinth Training Run

Myself and Melody (who's been relatively lurking in the forums her for some time) ran a 15 person (give or take) Canadian labyrinth test run on Sunday in the snow Laughing. It was actually her idea - she gathered the people and organized and led the event, and I got excited suggesting recording it to share. So we got 2 (technically 3) cameras (another friend of mine, starbursidereus, came along and took photos and a tiny bit of video).

I've already posted the flickr photo set from the event (photos from starbursidereus and captures from the HD handicam) here:

[ Flickr photo set ]

And here's the compiled video I made up with the hilites... it's 11:17 long, so 1:17 too long for Youtube Evil or Very Mad so I'm going to re-cut it a bit more later so I can get it on youtube as well. We attempted 5 runs, before the call of a big spaghetti dinner was too enticing to continue Smile
Anyway, without further ado...

[ Video: The Running of the Labyrinth ]

Later on I'll be posted the full two parts - the instructional portion and the game portion, uncut, to see all the problems and adjustments we had to do

melody has a writeup of her experience leading it, so she's going to reply here. I just ran the bird's-eye camera so I wouldn't have to move a lot with my Twisted Evil ankle...

So, maybe this'll give people an idea of how a 3-circuit labyrinth run works with at least 10 people. Note also, the average age I believe was about 16 or so, so attention span could be better Smile. Still, it was impressive how well it came together and how fast people caught on.

I do think though that 2 feet is pretty thin for the path. But my take on this - it definitely demonstrates teamwork, and it's not just a game for the runner - everyone is very much involved, and it takes everyone participating to make it work. Very Happy

Looking forward to seeing reports from other training events coming up!
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:23 pm
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Melody
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Joined: 22 Mar 2008
Posts: 13
Location: Guelph, Ontario

 		hi. looking back on our training event, here are some suggestions:

Tips for Labyrinth Event Planners:

Preparations Ahead of Time
Choose the date, the show-up time, the event-start time.
Send confirmation emails/phone calls to ensure people will show up. I had 8 people cancel the day of.
Age of players is important. I mostly had high school age participants, the video is evidence as to the stamina and hyperactivity of this group! 
Have food/water/snacks for people. (This helped my team stay on task, knowing they were getting spaghetti dinner out of this!)
If you are deciding to video-tape your event, video camera preparation is important. Find a location where you can have a video camera from above, and in with the runner, for best results. Make sure your camera operators are coordinated and know what is going on before everyone else.
Prepare the labyrinth (s) ahead of time. Draw all sizes just in case your players catch on and could move to larger sizes for more fun!
Have a script for giving instructions so that you don't miss a detail.
I suggest you have instruction copies for everyone to read as you explain, include diagrams if necessary.
Gather supplies: stopwatch, blindfold, etc.
If you choose, give follow-up material, so that people know how to look into findthelostring for themselves!


Instruction-Giving at the Event:
-I chose not to give any of the back-story or the 'why' as to this event. I just called up a bunch of friends. I felt that, due to the last-minute organizing, I didn't have time to explain about this ARG, but knowing the significance will help individuals stay on task and be committed to the sport.
-Be amplified while giving instructions.
-The 'Walls' will gather on much quicker if you have several individuals do a 'sample wall run' in front of everyone to show how one leaves their position and moves.
-For best results in training, have the wall-runners try a wall run with a straight wall first, rather than curved in the labyrinth.
-Have the runner do a practice run without walls, without blindfold
-Have the runner do a practice run with walls, without blindfold
-I did not see any specific instructions about how the walls were supposed to stand (crossing arms, as in the diagram?). I did not enforce a certain position, except did enforce the 'turning' of the bodies as the runner goes by. The 'how' of this was somewhat unclear to me.


-more thoughts may come soon. this is it for now! ideas, anyone?

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:46 pm
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Melody
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Joined: 22 Mar 2008
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Location: Guelph, Ontario

 		here is the 'instruction script' i used the day of.
Labyrinth Running - Rules of the Sport - Melody's instructions.doc
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:48 pm
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jasper
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 		That was great, Melody!

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:43 pm
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Elizabeth123
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Joined: 15 Mar 2008
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 		Just wanted to say your video editing was awesome, thebruce! Too funny.

[EDIT] One thing that occurred to me, watching the vid, was that with larger groups of people, it would probably be best to follow Melody's suggestion of only having people hum when the runner gets to their section of the labyrinth. The runner here was probably getting confused with all the humming all around him. Having the walls hum louder when the runner is getting too close will probably really help him stay on track.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:46 am
Last edited by Elizabeth123 on Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:29 am; edited 1 time in total
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thebruce
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Joined: 16 Aug 2004
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Location: Kitchener, Ontario

 		heh, tnx. I just tried a new program too - Sony Vegas is actually not all that bad for this level of editing.
I do still want to get the rest of the video up uncut. Lots of questions and and discussing rules and such that might be helpful.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:27 am
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Tenchizard
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Joined: 22 Sep 2007
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 		Sorry, I didn't see this thread until just now. I guess I can contribute a bit after our small training in Spain. So here goes how it went:

THE TEAM:
I must say my team right now is quite small. I've got:
2 dikaiosune (I'm one)
3 sofia
1 sophrosune
1 chariton
1 thumos

THE EVENT:
For the little training session I could get just the 3 sofia, the thumos and me. And one other friend who hasn't done the test yet.

THE DRAWING:
The place we had chosen was the grass gardens outside our University. First I tried to use paper to draw the circles but... too windy. So I grabbed some string, lots of stones, and chopsticks. I "planted" the 9 chopsticks (cross with for dots on the corners), and then tied a string to another chopstick. The string had knots at 1ft from the stick, and the 3 more knots each at 2 ft from the previous knot. I planted this tied up stick between the top right stick and the top centre one, and began the drawing. You just have to tense the string and follow the knots. We used more string to do this, putting stones to keep it on the ground. Here are the photos:
Drawing album

THE TRAINING:
Once the labyrinth was there, our Thumos came and began walking the labyrinth a few times with his eyes open. Then he tried memorizing the steps he did: 1 short step, turn left. 1 long step, turn left. 1 short step, 1 long step... and so on.

Then we began doing the run with his eyes closed. The first few times we did it without walls, just so he could get a feeling for walking blind. Then, we began doing the wall-thing.

First we tried it following the instructions as they were in the codex: when the runner went past us, we tried to move to the next section of wall, but being so few, we really couldn't do it. So we decided to move along with him. It made humming quite difficult, as we had to hum the whole way to the exit, and that's really tiring for your breath Razz

Anyway, our runner managed to do a couple of succesful runs to the exit. Being a first timer, we tried to hum a bit stronger when he got near us, so he could know he was going in a wrong direction if he came near.

TIPS:
I think 3 is the minimum number of walls needed anytime: 1 to the left, 1 to the right, and 1 in front in some sections of the labyrinth.
The humming should start when the runner comes near you, and stop when he goes past you. So the runner will alway have humming to his sides and the front.
Training the walls is important as well. You have to move quickly, and try not to get too inside the corridor. I'd suggest only the tips of your feet should barely touch the string you are at.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 5:04 am
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mr.judkins
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Joined: 26 Feb 2008
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Location: Wellington, NZ

 		NZ Labyrinth Training Session #1
5 April 2008, Queen's Wharf Square, Wellington
Firstly, for those who haven't seen it: Our first Labyrinth Training Video.

Having decided on a date for our first training session, it readily became apparent that the weather was going to be totally dismal. Rather than be put off, we moved our venue to a public square near Wellington's waterfront which was somewhat sheltered. Both we and elise & jon (who filmed the training) checked up on how dry it actually was over the day - and were surprised to discover it wasn't too bad.

The only catch was a large number of promotional vehicles that had been parked (in most of the dry spots) at one side of the square. We used the one other space that was the least wet, and contended with a few of them needing to get by from time to time. As we began the training, an International Netball game finished in the Events Centre beside the square, so we had plenty of onlookers to wonder what the heck we were up to.



There were nine of us in total: two filming and seven learning the sport. As everyone arrived, we offered them tea, coffee and snacks. Over these, we discussed what we were doing, and (to a degree) why. A few of those who had come along had followed the links to the Wiki site and thelostring.com we gave them, but none had been actively playing the larger game. (FYI, here is the text of the email we sent out.)

To aid discussion of Labyrinth Running, we had printed out chapters 5-7 of the codex, along with their translations (which were naturally found fascinating). The images of the walls in chapter 6 and the runner in chapter 7 were perfect for getting a sense of what we were meant to be doing.

Walking around the labyrinth we had drawn, the group came to the conclusion that the walls would pretty much be standing in the ring on the other side of the "wall" they were supposed to be. (We filmed one whole run focusing on feet and legs, so I can get that uploaded too, if people are interested.)

Without further ado, we had our first attempt at The Lost Sport. Which (as you can see from the video) fell apart pretty quickly. It became very clear that other than getting the corners memorized, the "runner" is totally reliant upon the walls. The humming you can hear, and the bodies you bump into are your only guide as to where you are and where you need to go.



As no one had ever played the game before, we started out very lax about the specific rules: More than one of the runners used their hands as well on their first go through the labyrinth. Before we got the hang of running past each other to keep the wall going we would occasionally do a group "hammer slide" to close the gap (which you can spot on the second run in the video). If the runner started going back the way they came, the walls at the back would close off the path. The more we played, the more we improved, and the less we needed such measures, however. By the time of the last full run seen in our video - we were able to finish a run (with a good time) by the rules.

As I've already mentioned - we realized the walls have just as much work to do as the runner. And the humming... oh the humming. We found that the best options for navigation is to have a strong loud hum coming from the walls just in front of the runner. They know where to navigate by getting one of those strong hums in each ear. As the runner passed through, their humming would decrease in volume to nothing, as those newly just-in-front had taken the "torch", if you will. Having finished humming, we would run along to the constantly extending end of the wall, as seen time and time again in the video.

The other variation we came up with is that the wall-person standing on each of the pivot points of the corners hummed in a different fashion to the rest of the walls. In our case, we used a pulsing hum - hum - hum - hum, which signaled to the runner that they were on a corner, and to do a hairpin turn around the pulsing hum. Again, you can hear this going on in the vid. I'm not sure whether this is a "legal" variation, but so far I still haven't seen any concrete rules on how the walls are meant to hum - or whether they all have to hum in the same fashion.



So, all in all for a first series of attempts it went really well. Everyone involved was really committed, and we got a total of nine runs in. One thing that really struck me was how small a 3-Circuit labyrinth really is, and how narrow the 2 foot gap is between walls. Five different people got a chance to be the runner - some found it fun, others really unpleasant, all found it disorientating.

As you've probably seen, we've already set a date for our next training session. We were discussing making it a 5-Circuit course, but having re-read the rest of this thread, I think we'll take Melody's suggestion of doing a 3-Circuit and a 5-Circuit side-by-side. All going well we'll get as many of our original group back to help guide the newbies.

Finally, a note regarding the video and photos for these events. One of the things that delayed our posting of the first video was waiting for consent from each of the participants. It's certainly not a legal requirement here to get consent before displaying a person's image publicly, but it's definitely an ethical consideration. Our plan for upcoming events is to put together release forms we can print off and have those who will end up on camera sign. They may realize they're being filmed, but we've decided it's important to ensure they have an idea of the potential audience who may end up viewing it. The consistent reply we had from the first group was "use my image, but not my name". We assured them we wouldn't.

That's all I can think of for now. Happy to answer any questions, and starting to work out adjustments and aims for the next session weekend-after-next. Any suggestions would be very welcome, and we're looking forward to hearing how other groups find it! Very Happy

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:51 am
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Elizabeth123
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Joined: 15 Mar 2008
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 		Great video, Mr. J! It looked like such fun--The walls did a great job, and looked very well organized, and by the last run, everyone really seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Completing it in one minute seems quite good, I think.

Good work! Question--Did the runner practice running the labyrinth first without a blindfold, or was their first go-around completely blind? I'd think practicing first, to get a feel for how quickly they'll need to turn, might keep them from getting so disoriented.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:39 am
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thebruce
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Joined: 16 Aug 2004
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 		yeah, gotta emphasize - have the runner run the labyrinth a couple of times with eyes open, eyes closed when possible to get a feel for the route... I really think that is a key point...

/me would love to see by the end of this a highly skilled, very advanced, fast and flawless labyrinth run! that would be sweet to watch, almost surreal...
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:19 am
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AUZ505
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Joined: 07 Mar 2008
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Location: Germany

 		Just to remind you that these training reports are not only for our own purpose. Regarding the Codex, it seems important to have such reports and it is the responsibility of the Mythopoeia.

Chapter 8 wrote:

The Mythopoeia are responsible for creating independent coordinating reports about labyrinth training sessions and contests. These documents must include as many details as possible about the athletes and the location.


So how about the idea to set up some kind of "standard report document" that have to be filled out. I will start with something as soon as I have time.
Feel free to come up with your own ideas.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 2:31 pm
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riquardo
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 		Good idea AUZ, I like that about a standard document to record the training attempts.

And great video mr. J, the walls did seem very well coordinated. And great work of thebruce and melody for getting the ball rolling! Every video/practice now seems better and better. Keep up the good work everyone!

PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:27 pm
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joeyhess
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Joined: 15 Mar 2008
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 		Found this video of a training event in Sao Paulo earlier this month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ11Hap84ow

And a second one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xIrDTyG40o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ11Hap84ow

And here's video from setup for one in Natal, Brazil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__M_zr180U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBXTjW0lNwc

PostPosted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:10 am
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lhall
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 		We did a smallish session yesterday in Dallas. It was really fun! We found that it's not hard to navigate as long as you take normal steps, but that the hairpin turns are tricky and disorienting, so by the time you're nearly through you have no idea where you are.

Sometime this week I'm going to recruit my officemates to do another one. Smile

Photos and video clip (the camera only caught us practicing, oops).
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:17 pm
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mr.judkins
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Location: Wellington, NZ

 		Great to see it was a beautiful day for it in Dallas, Lhall.

I'd like to send out a congrats to the San Francisco team who I hear have already broken the NZ record - but I thought before they get here to gloat I'd post a link to the video of our training on Saturday.

We thought 27 Seconds was pretty damn good!

Ah well, we held the record briefly - and will be having another training next Sunday, this time with a time to beat! Very Happy

Looking forward to seeing the photos and videos, you SF lot!

PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:42 pm
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