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 Forum index » Meta » General META Discussion
Prank Alternate Reality Games?
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Zephonith
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Joined: 20 May 2007
Posts: 136
Location: Not your time zone

 		Prank Alternate Reality Games?
Have there been any Prank ARGs? I don't mean trailheads that turned out to be practical jokes, but full on, proper ARGs which pranked their players in some way.

See, I spent the last three days playing Notes to Mary, which had all appearances of being a normal ARG, albeit slightly fast and maybe a bit short. The gate was opened and we finally got to the appointed time and logged in to the secret site area....

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Only to be Rickrolled.


It went over surprisingly well among the players - mostly people were just relieved it wasn't trying to covertly sell us anything, and we realised the amount of work that went into such a prank (plus two of the places following it were 4chan and Something Awful). The PM had already shown a twisted sense of humour throughout the game, so while it was a surprise, it wasn't entirely unexpected and it was more a lighthearted way to show us he'd "won".

Has there been anything else like this, or is it a work that becomes a new genre itself?

If you're interested, he also has a writeup of how he went about it at his in-game Livejournal here. From what he's told me, he's a first time PM, didn't even know the term ARG until he started it, and was running the entire thing solo, so I'm in awe that this still led to a really fun ARG across 5 forums (including this one).

PostPosted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:10 pm
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Euchre
uF Game Warden


Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 3342

 		There was one that never made it out of N&R that ended in a RickRoll a good while back as I recall. Can't find it off hand yet.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 5:52 am
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Will 2.0
Unfictologist


Joined: 22 Jun 2007
Posts: 1431
Location: Burlington, Vermont

 		Gogeye, friend.

It was a live rick roll which I laughed at when I heard about it.

That guy has skill.s
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:44 pm
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krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice


Joined: 26 Sep 2002
Posts: 3651
Location: Is not Chicago

 		I felt a bit pranked by ARGtalk.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:38 pm
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Euchre
uF Game Warden


Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 3342

 		Ah yes, it was Gogeye. The OP reminded me of that 'game', especially in that it was very similarly styled - short, transpiring fairly quickly, and ending in a Rickroll prank. There were a few other fragments or short and dead end games at the time with an "ARGs suck" attitude to them, and I suspect one person or a small group of people were having a go at the ARG genre in general.

I think the best ARG prank would be something the ARG community itself did to make the general population think something was real, then spring the truth on them that it was all a game or hoax. Nothing like playing a prank on the 'real world'. Twisted Evil
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Any sufficiently plausible fiction is indistinguishable from reality.
Any sufficiently twisted reality is indistinguishable from fiction.
Welcome to the new world of entertainment.
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 7:00 am
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konamouse
Official uF Dietitian


Joined: 02 Dec 2002
Posts: 8010
Location: My own alternate reality
Euchre wrote:
I think the best ARG prank would be something the ARG community itself did to make the general population think something was real, then spring the truth on them that it was all a game or hoax. Nothing like playing a prank on the 'real world'. Twisted Evil


I think that has happened (the incident in Brazil that was described in the Letters to Mary end).

Your idea would probably be unhealthy for the genre. Give it a bad reputation. I think most of us die hard fans want the public to embrace the medium, not get pissed off at it.
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:12 am
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Euchre
uF Game Warden


Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 3342

 		I never said it'd be good for the genre, and frankly I don't yet see something quite like that being successfully done if it came within the traditional circles of the genre. Some CF that wasn't thought of as that has come across far more real by being thought of and invented from a different perspective than the type most PMs seem to come from. My best example of something being thought of as truly real that was meant to be an interactive fiction was 90DayJane. I don't think that went over too well on any front.
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Any sufficiently plausible fiction is indistinguishable from reality.
Any sufficiently twisted reality is indistinguishable from fiction.
Welcome to the new world of entertainment.
ŠEuchre 2007

PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:54 pm
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konamouse
Official uF Dietitian


Joined: 02 Dec 2002
Posts: 8010
Location: My own alternate reality
Euchre wrote:
My best example of something being thought of as truly real that was meant to be an interactive fiction was 90DayJane. I don't think that went over too well on any front.


I'm not sure what the author/artist was thinking that was (not an ARG Prank). More like "performance art" from what I read. Probably falls into CF definitions. But definitely not ARG.
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:43 am
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The Barmaid
Decorated


Joined: 02 Apr 2009
Posts: 173
Location: Northern Arizona

 		I wonder if Rick Astley's ever been RickRolled.

I had to laugh because my first read here I got RRd. Transformers. Embarassed

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:52 am
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