unforum

[classical]

Hahaha, I must've missed that part! Dang. (I spent more time on the little sidequest for this game and wandering around Portland than in the actual convention itself, tbh. So I probably missed a lot. But it was all good!)

[Wulf74]

Sorry we missed you Lunsford! I figured that everyone knew we were gonna be there.
[meta]
*Warning what follows is an account of ARGfest*
*and my opinion does not necessarily match those of anyone*
*else, or unFiction. Read at your own risk! *
I gotta be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the way the panel went with Brian. When he had originally emailed me, and asked whether or not he should accept the invite to speak at ARGfest, I thought he would actually be speaking, not subjected to a barrage of attacks. It was bad enough that I actually apologized to him, for having him show up just for that.

I certainly understand a lot of the concern, and even unhappiness at the way he had started the game, by posting in character as Maury Kelvin - but someone dropped a gentle reminder, and it stopped (as near as we can tell ). I understand even moreso, the irritation it caused with Spacebass and the other admins/mods when they had to go through the entire verification process with Bricker to pull the I'm Sorry thread off of unFiction! Hell, I would've been irritated by that.

But it amazed me at the level of complete out and out anger expressed by some of the audience! The first person to stand up, and ask her "question" (she'll remain nameless), accused him of "pooping on everyone" (her words) in unFiction by his complete lack of regard, mean spiritedness, and out and out thinking the rules didn't apply to him, and how cool he must've felt afterwards thinking he'd pulled it off and got away with it! by the heat in her voice, and obvious anger - if you didn't know the story, you would've thought that he had intentionally singled her out, and attacked her!

I think that several of the questions were harsh but fair, but could've been asked in a much more...adult(?).. fashion. Most I felt like, were just out and out attacks.

In my opinion, I really don't think that Bricker had intended the whole fiasco with the thread being removed was what he planned on. From the beginning, he's been trying new things, but overall I think is trying to make this a completely immersed experience. Even while Classical and I were having lunch with him, everything was IG - there wasn't a moment while he was with us, that he wasn't totally maintaining his role as a writer who hadn't finished his book, yet it had come to life. *as a funny side note, it's very awkward feeling to be discussing all of this with someone face to face, talking about things, like Rage slaughtering all of the Watchers, or sleeping with his sister and as a result having a child whom has supernatural abilities. Although it did make it easier since Jimmi Hendrix had shown up and was sitting at a table a few down from us...*

Some people may not like this type of complete immersion into a game, which is totally fine - different strokes for different folks - but to attack it, to come down on those that are enjoying it or have a different opinion, is just ignorant.

I've gotta give Bricker credit, he's testing the waters with ARG's, trying and doing things that haven't been done before. I mean, I've never played an ARG with a "real" person as one of the core characters. Remember how many of us, when we first found him, said "Naw can't be him, he's a real guy!". And when you try new things, most times, something is bound to go wrong. I just hope it doesn't put him off trying to do another, or scare anyone else that was thinking about trying some of the same things, or even other new ideas.

There was another guy up on the panel with Brian, I can't remember his name (and he took nearly as much flak), but he is/was the creator of Martin Aggett. Some of you may or may not be familiar with him. Martin joined the online community a few months back, in preparation for an upcoming ARG. He was essentially creating a background for this character. When for whatever reason it was discovered that this wasn't a real person, people again - got very angry. They were angry, that this person they had developed a relationship with, become friends with (as much as you can become a friend with someone online, that you've never actually met.. ), was not a real person.
Again, to an extent I can kind of understand this - but as I mentioned to Classy at the time - someone got online, created an alias for themselves, and then started participating with others. Each of us on here, has an alias, and I would be willing to bet, is really nothing like their online persona. I'm not saying that anyone is trying to be different, but it's difficult to relay personality quirks, and so forth via text (hell I was different than what Classy expected ). That's why there are smiley's - it's because it's so easy to misinterpret what is being said sometimes, that you have to add them to ensure the person you're communicating with understands a little better. And I'd be willing to bet, that the guy that created Martin Aggett isn't much different than himself in real-life.
Lastly, and I'll get off my soapbox the question I thought the best was, how much responsibility should the PM's accept for the actions of their players? If the PM's ever suggested something illegal then obviously there's a problem. But ultimately, it comes down to the individual (IMO), doing those things. If you could legally blame your actions on a PM of a GAME who couldn't be blamed for anything?

I think probably the best answer to all of these questions at the end of the day in my opinion is simply this. It's a game folks, you're playing to have fun. Relax. Cuz Frankie said so..

Ok, sorry to subject everyone to that, just had to get it off my chest. And if Brian is still reading this, again I'm truly sorry.

[/soapbox]

[classical]

Haha, oh dear. You already know I completely agree with you, man, so I have nothing further to add. ;P And that was, more or less, why I wasn't hanging around the convention hall that much.

Though, as a side note, that lunch thing was definitely surreal not just because Bricker stayed completely 'in character', for what that's worth when you're playing yourself, but because he was damn good at it. I don't think he slipped up once. Or if he did, I didn't notice it, because there was plenty of other things to be distracted by.

Like, okay, Wulf brought along Port's copy of As a Man Thinketh and pointed out the photograph of the little boy in it. At that point, Bricker just...stopped. Wulf and I continued chatting about something else until we realized that he was still sitting there, looking somewhere between confused and upset. For a moment, I was kinda afraid to even say anything to him, because I wasn't sure if something was actually wrong.
It was the same sort of empty, uncertain pause that I remember hearing when I dropped Rage's name to him on that ticket-induced telephone call, way back when. Just long enough to momentarily convince me of his role.

FYI, Bricker decided that the image was, in fact, of him, based on a building in the background of it. It was somewhere where he'd been frequently as a kid. (Which I can't remember what the place was called for the life of me. Damn, Wulf--do you remember where he said it was?) So apparently Port thinks he's Bricker. Which is quite possible, sez Bricker, considering the similarities between them.

Pfft, though, I still think Hendrix showing up was pretty much the icing on top of that whole surreal cake, hahah. It pretty much assured me that, yes, I had just stepped into Bizarro World, where this sort of insanity is normal, here is your complimentary goatee. :B
(We should've gotten a picture, man!)

[Wulf74]

[3v1L Schwinn]

[ironnikki]

It's certainly a shame to hear about the abuse that occurred out in Portland. I'm sure that the rest of the convention was fine, but from what I'm hearing from you guys, it sounds like Bricker got more than he bargained for. I can honestly say that the major reason why I read through all 80 pages of this thread was because it was just so darn interesting. Being new to the ARG scene, I had skimmed a few threads to kind of get the feel for things, and most of them seemed relatively similar structurally. But this one differed right from the first post, which immediately caught my attention. From that point on, I was hooked.

Though I have pretty much no experience to compare this to, I can definitely tell that this game is pushing the limits. It's exciting, it's new, and that's what scares people. This game has included an immersive story, challenging puzzles, and characters that you can't help but care about. I only wish I could have jumped in at the beginning.

But I'm here now, so I'm gonna enjoy it! At least, until school starts up again... then all bets are off, haha.

[classical]

On the upside, there were some people there who were actually interested in the game and were willing to listen to what Brian had to say about it and ARGs in general. Though those people were vastly outnumbered, we still had a voice.

Still, the whole thing felt more like a bloody witch hunt than it did a panel. (Though I suppose that's what happens when you get a load of very irrational people together in the same room.) I'm sorry for that, especially for Bricker, mostly because it gives such a poor impression of the few of us in the ARG community who actually enjoy this game and kinds like it. I really hope that Bricker did get to meet some of these people while he was there, just to know that--hey, we exist and we appreciate what he does.

Anyhoo! It was not to say that the whole trip out there was a total bust--I had plenty of fun bothering Wulf, having lunch with Bricker, getting the package, talking to PinkCloud and co. about the game, and rolling around Portland. But I like to be optimistic about these things, so I made sure I had some sort of fun while I was out there so the good would outweigh the bad. And it did, so I'm not sorry I was out there at all. :B

[BlackandBlue]

definitely thanks

[Wulf74]

Re: definitely thanks

[ironnikki]

[Wulf74]

[classical]

Yeah, Bricker was pretty concerned about our plan to put Rage and Lincoln in the same building with one another. But! considering the fact that Lincoln is both immobile AND mute (as per what Bricker said at lunch), anything that would happen between them would have to be brought about by Rage.
So I am not so much worried about what Lincoln can do so much as I am worried about what Rage could do. He is much less predictable than the man who knows everything, I guess. :B

And then somewhere in the mix, somebody's gotta set fire to the Brightman, apparently. Or, at least, that's what I'm getting from the coded message from the package. Speaking of which, I'm not getting any other messages out of it--or none that I can make any sense of. So if you guys have any thoughts about what is a code/what isn't, let's hear them!

[ironnikki]

From what I remember of the threat between Rage and Lincoln, it doesn't sound like either of them will have to take action for whatever havoc to be wreaked. It sounds like just the two of them being near each other will cause some sort of reaction that will cause all kinds of hell to break loose. But then again, I would think that Rage knows more about the situation than we do, so he should know when he's getting too close to wherever we believe Lincoln to be, and should be able to get away. So really, all we would have to do is tell him where exactly Lincoln is, right?

[classical]

Gots me an email today:

[ironnikki]

Randall? Shouldn't Port be aware that Randall's dead?

In either case, if Port's asking about him, then maybe we should see if we can find anything else out about him. I'll go back through TGATT and see if anything pops out, but from what I remember, there wasn't a whole lot in there about him.