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 Forum index » Meta » Puppetmaster Help
Extended Periods of Silence?
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Vecheeso
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Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Posts: 337
Location: Titusville, FL

 		Extended Periods of Silence?
Okay, so here is a question I have in general about ARGs, and this seems to be the one thing that bothers me about them.
The thing that bothers me is unexpected, unannounced, or unusual pauses in story. See, some ARGs run by what the players find, and others go on the fly, and in the case of TDK its feast of famine with new content, and that somewhat bothers me.
I mean, at least with mini-series on TV there is scheduled days and times usually consistent, and with ARGs it seems very different. I mean I know in ARGs its all about surprise and such of the new content being released, but still...
One day you might have a ton of searching, then nothing for days, or weeks, not even word from PMs about delays etc.
Does this bother anyone else? I mean I dont expect content everyday, however, I do expect that we be told in one way or another WHEN new content will come around, or just throw out some BS content in the meantime at least.
I dont know if im making this post clear or not on what i mean. I dont expect pms to break TINAG and be like "harvey dent will be contacting everyone for cake by the weeks end!" etc, but I hate when you solve something, and the trail just runs cold until someone releases a new vid sometime, or a new post, or something. Again, im not saying pms should break TINAG to do this, or even to give us exact dates times or whatever, because ARGs are a surprise, however I hate getting all hyped up, getting to a new site, and having to wait for days and days for something new to come out of that site or from the characters in the story.
Hope this doesnt sound whiney, and im not saying I will do any better with my ARG, im really just looking for answers as to why there are these random downtimes, and if they frustrate anyone else.
I mean i'll spend hours being stoked about a puzzle, or where a puzzle, recently broken, is headed, then there are no more clues and you just have to wait for more stuff to come out. But mebbe thats just me Sad
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PostPosted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:20 pm
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MTHoopla
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Joined: 21 Feb 2007
Posts: 75

 		It IS rather troubling...it seems like everything I touch dies.

In my limited experience, it's either the PM losing interest that causes it, or if it's a commercially-run ARG, the money runs out. Or, in the case of one that I played in (Ketsui-chan, I think it was called?) the PM used some words in his e-mails that got him stuck on some government watchlists or something.

It kinda pisses me off when I'll invest my time in something that I enjoy so much and then I get the rug pulled out from under me, y'know?

PostPosted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:33 pm
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Vecheeso
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Joined: 30 Mar 2008
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Location: Titusville, FL

 		I mean, at least Aporia Agathon did this: once we found a site that was being used for two of the characters to communicate with each other, we all started talking to them in posts on this new site. one character said for the other to shut the site down, and the other later replied that they tried and it didnt work. I mean that isnt necessarily 'new content' but it at least lets us know we arent just left in the dark with our thumbs up our arses to wait around for something new.
whereas a game like TDK has a big game to find these trailers, then the people at home have to wait a week, with no new content, for the trailer to be submitted, then, days later, still nothing new. I mean, the trailer shouldnt even EXIST so, i dont agree that that should be considered new content, because it didnt lead anywhere new! So for the TDKers we have gone a week and a half with absolutely nothing new to do.
Sorry, ranting Sad

PostPosted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:41 pm
Last edited by Vecheeso on Wed May 07, 2008 5:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 4751
Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth
MTHoopla wrote:
...Or, in the case of one that I played in (Ketsui-chan, I think it was called?) the PM used some words in his e-mails that got him stuck on some government watchlists or something....


Not exactly. His mailing list also included addresses to the webmasters of The White House and the Department of Justice websites. Needless to say, they had the expected reaction.

Guys, it's hard for anyone to keep it going for so long. Let's face it; if everything is made available day one, with the combined resources of the Internet it is theoretically possible to finish the game in a day without PM involvement. So the PMs have to spread it out on purpose.

Also, you don't want your marketing campaign for a specific project to burn out instantly. You have to drag it on until the product is released, as is the case with TDK and Cloverfield.

And in the smaller, homegrown ARGs you have to understand that the PMs are human. While I was running LGL I barely had time to sleep, and at one point I had to create a "security lockdown" and shut down the email system just so I can spend a full day with my family. It's not as simple as it sounds.
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PostPosted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:49 pm
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Vecheeso
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Joined: 30 Mar 2008
Posts: 337
Location: Titusville, FL
Nighthawk wrote:
MTHoopla wrote:
...Or, in the case of one that I played in (Ketsui-chan, I think it was called?) the PM used some words in his e-mails that got him stuck on some government watchlists or something....


Not exactly. His mailing list also included addresses to the webmasters of The White House and the Department of Justice websites. Needless to say, they had the expected reaction.

Guys, it's hard for anyone to keep it going for so long. Let's face it; if everything is made available day one, with the combined resources of the Internet it is theoretically possible to finish the game in a day without PM involvement. So the PMs have to spread it out on purpose.

Also, you don't want your marketing campaign for a specific project to burn out instantly. You have to drag it on until the product is released, as is the case with TDK and Cloverfield.

And in the smaller, homegrown ARGs you have to understand that the PMs are human. While I was running LGL I barely had time to sleep, and at one point I had to create a "security lockdown" and shut down the email system just so I can spend a full day with my family. It's not as simple as it sounds.


Yeah that all makes sense. I guess im just miffed about waiting around and such.
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PostPosted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:54 pm
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MTHoopla
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Joined: 21 Feb 2007
Posts: 75
Vecheeso wrote:
Nighthawk wrote:
MTHoopla wrote:
...Or, in the case of one that I played in (Ketsui-chan, I think it was called?) the PM used some words in his e-mails that got him stuck on some government watchlists or something....


Not exactly. His mailing list also included addresses to the webmasters of The White House and the Department of Justice websites. Needless to say, they had the expected reaction.

Guys, it's hard for anyone to keep it going for so long. Let's face it; if everything is made available day one, with the combined resources of the Internet it is theoretically possible to finish the game in a day without PM involvement. So the PMs have to spread it out on purpose.

Also, you don't want your marketing campaign for a specific project to burn out instantly. You have to drag it on until the product is released, as is the case with TDK and Cloverfield.

And in the smaller, homegrown ARGs you have to understand that the PMs are human. While I was running LGL I barely had time to sleep, and at one point I had to create a "security lockdown" and shut down the email system just so I can spend a full day with my family. It's not as simple as it sounds.


Yeah that all makes sense. I guess im just miffed about waiting around and such.


Well, in the case of Eldritch Errors, it's kinda warranted, due to the whole multi-month information blackout.

PostPosted: Wed May 07, 2008 6:07 pm
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notgordian
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Joined: 23 Nov 2006
Posts: 1383
Location: Philly
Vecheeso wrote:
I mean, at least Aporia Agathon did this: once we found a site that was being used for two of the characters to communicate with each other, we all started talking to them in posts on this new site. one character said for the other to shut the site down, and the other later replied that they tried and it didnt work. I mean that isnt necessarily 'new content' but it at least lets us know we arent just left in the dark with our thumbs up our arses to wait around for something new.


It all comes down to establishing expectations early on in the game. With The Dark Knight, the game established almost immediately that the game mechanic would involve brief periods of activity around select holidays (although they've moved away from that after Heath Ledger's death in an effort to focus more on the Harvey Dent story).

As for Aporia Agathon, they announced on their blog and in interviews that the game's launch is later in the summer and that everything else is merely the occassional teaser of content. So pretty much any rationale (studying for APs/finals, for example) would suffice to explain "radio silence" in that game.

I think it is extremely important for PMs to establish a game mechanism for a release schedule and stick to it -- from what I recall, for instance, I Love Bees had bi-weekly updates, and pretty much stuck to that. Frankly, it's insane to establish a 24/7 release schedule on the game. It's unrealistic for the staff, and it's also probably unrealistic for the world you're trying to create.

Find workarounds to give you the time you need, and work that into the design. For instance: Nighthawk, I didn't follow LGL, but if your not-really-rogue AI was taking up too much of your time, give it "resource allocation" issues -- maybe the company uses cycles for data-intensive projects and the entity only has resources to spare for communications and "personal" projects. Similarly, a lot of businesspeople have increasingly been implementing the "timed email" -- email is only checked once in the morning and maybe once at night, with all other communication taking place over the phone or in person.

PostPosted: Wed May 07, 2008 9:14 pm
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