unforum

[ROBOGriff]

[Dorkmaster]

[Begin RANT]Well, since we've come so long since my original argument, I'm going to re-solidify my stance again, because I did NOT intend this topic to be a gripe-fest. (which it's not, but there are a few people...) anyway, my point here is not to say this is BAD because it is turning out more as a payphone-activated story, but that it is simply not an ARG, is all...

Again, I do note that the beginning and that the SP's lookingglass/gretel/yellowbrickroad/etc... stuff are all good puzzles, and that's very ARG-y in my opinion. I am not debating the value of this game or whatever you want to call it! I am simply debating whether or not this was what everyone expected it to be (in a general sense)...

It wasn't what I wanted. It's not bad, and I'm still here, playing, so it's not sucking or something... I'm just saying, after activating three axons, it's getting old. It's not exciting anymore. Which is fine, cuz I still like tuning in and seeing what's to be seen, but I just can't take off another hour of work to drive for 25 minutes in rush hour to get to a payphone anymore. It's not changing things! I mean, the voice acting is excellent, no matter what anyone says, and the story is cool too, but I don't feel that the effort we're putting into this (especially now needing 5 axons lit to get a wav file) is worth the result, and it's becoming less and less so with each iteration. It was AWESOME the first time. It was even cooler the second time, even though it wasn't me who lit the axon. The third time was even cool, even though I was the only one there... However, there's only so many times people in this demographic can get out of work/school/family obligations/etc to answer a payphone...

I just feel that this has to change soon, and if this ends with a well-constructed story at the other side of 777 axons that it's not enough in my book. I know it's free, and i know it's cool. (It is!) but it's not worth the time that (as Alzheimer aptly put it) we put into it at the beginning. Unfortunately, as this thing progresses, it appears that we need to put even MORE effort into it, which is discouraging.

Anyway, my $.02 isn't worth much, and I don't want to seem pouty here. This experience, regardless of the outcome is still a grand adventure, has turned me on to the wicked-cool genre of ARGing and in general has been a really fun and rewarding experience. I'm just saying that it's losing steam as it continues down the track.

We just have to remember: This is advertising! This is still the coolest advertisement I've ever seen. (wasn't part of the beast, of course) So, while I'm ranting in one corner, I'm still praising on the other. I respect the PMs, even if I don't agree with their choices in plotting this game. they've still put an enormous effort into this and it's good product, by ANY means! It's just that it's not what I thought it would be, and that's why I started this thread... to see if anyone else agreed that this was maybe mis-placed as an ARG, and wasn't really that, as much as a great interactive story.[/Rant 6 of 1251258]

Oh, and vpisteve DID rule on G4TechTV... My mom saw it, and now SHE finally understands what I've been talking about this whole time. Steve's comment actually justified the game to my mother. That's a feat!

[rose]

the purpose of Dana's blog

[SuperJerms]

haloverse

[HitsHerMark]

I suppose meta-knowledge does present a bit of a problem sometimes. It's hard to let go of what we know to be true.

The concern I think, is that if we get too wrapped up in what we know about the Halo mileux, we'll miss whatever new stuff they could be trying to teach us about it. The fact that everybody and their dog have been spec'ed to be a SPARTAN illustrates this. (Heck... I'm starting to think *I* might be a SPARTAN... )

Let me give an example:
I was once asked by a friend to help him with this "host a murder mystery" party type thing. He wanted me to play a character who thought she was the Egyptian Cat Goddess, Bast.

Now as a kid, I was terribly interested in all things involving ancient Egypt, so I was like, "Yeah, I can do that."

So the party starts and I go around introducing myself as Bast, and people took me seriously for some reason. . . Through the course of the "mystery" an artifact with hieroglyphics was found. So naturally, they brought it up to me to interpret. Because when you happen to have Bast at your party, who better to have read mysterious hieroglyphics? I had not been warned about the object or the cartouche that was carved on it... So I just went with it, and gave everybody a little lecture on the meaning and placement of symbols in a cartouche based on what I remembered from watching entirely to much "Rohner's Egypt".

Unfortunately, I had forgotten more about such things then the people who wrote the story, and created the "artifact", for the party ever knew or bothered to learn (if they bothered to learn anything at all in preping to create the story for the party)... And while my dissertation was very interesting and informative on the subject of cartouches, I threw everybody completely off track as far as solving the mystery went... Though I meant well.

As a "player", I should have focused less on what I actually knew about the subject, and more on what the artifact might actually have been trying to tell me.

[SpghEddy]

humorous, off topic, halo, hieroglyphics

[rose]

philosophically speaking

[sherpa]

Rose makes an excellent point and I think the variety of our demographic and the different backgrounds people have is one of our many strengths -- even if it does mean sometimes people are trying to explain theories that seem inherently obvious to them (with their background knowledge) to people who Just Don't Get It.

I've just spent a lot of time looking back at the whole game, and by gods, it's a lot bigger than I had expected. A lot more stuff, a lot more richness. Foreshadowing and strengthening of connections which are later proven outright. Style and dialogue employed from the start. And the best thing is it all makes perfect sense without bringing in any Haloisms - it's a self-contained little bubble. I think as we progress it'll become necessary to know what a Spartan is, what the Covenant is etc, but for now it works just as well to not know. (True, it limits your spec, but everything we've learnt so far has followed logically from what we know ingame anyway).

Dorkmaster, I hear your rant, and I agree. Totally.

Some part of me does wonder if the PMs are seeing how long they can keep this axon farce going for. Because, looking at everything that's happened so far, the repetitive axoning does follow; the updates we previously got, as part of new Phases, were repetitively similar to the previous ones (new embedded monologue, new embedded text in images) until we got the axons, and now we're axon-centric the updates are equally predictable.

I only hope that the specs elsewhere in this forum that we only have one week left (because Melissa doesn't like recipes), and that we will have something else to do when it reaches 777, are true.

It strikes me that when we have 777, that might be the big puzzle we've all been waiting for. We might have to actually pull all the spec together into one living, breathing whole, and explain it to Melissa while saving the universe with our other hands. As it were. And, y'know, I can't wait.. but there's less and less to do every day, the impact of the updates (unless you're an axon-hunter) is lessening too, and I wonder if by that time most people will have stopped checking the forums and gone to do something more productive with their lives.

[Mazian]

Re: philosophically speaking

[Dorkmaster]

Well Sherpa, I agree, and at the same time however, I don't think we're losing as many people per day as it feels like. I mean, sure we are, but a lot of that was lurkers or OMGWTFBBQ!1! posters too... Those with passing interest that didn't want to invest, but followed a PA article or /. or whatever, maybe followed for a week, said "I have to drive 15 minutes away to get a phone? NO WAY." And drifted away, never to be seen again except at game stores Nov. 9th, and then glued to the tube.

My point is, I think we still have a good representation of the "core" that we had prior to the 24th, and still a good smattering of the people that came after the 24th. But I do agree that if this is to remain, that there needs to be major (brain-power/puzzle-type) innovation going on after the 777 benchmark is hurdled. Otherwise, I for one, will check once a week, update myself on story and go about life. (I love the story, but can't justify the time lost at work for much longer, if it's just to get another .wav file that I'd get by waiting a week anyway.)

So again, no negativity, just a little opinion with a squeeze of cynicism to beat the decaying corpse of the horse a bit... (But thanks to all, cuz I've THOROUGHLY ENJOYED reading this thread from beginning to now, regardless of my position relative to yours as posted. I love this community!)

[Mazian]

I'm with Dorkmaster. I found unfiction because of ILB. I briefly encountered Metacortechs (set the way back machine...), but never found unfiction and so lost interest.

I'll be here after ILB goes away, but ILB is beginning to bore me. The people I've met here bring me back, not the axons. (although I do like the story, don't get me wrong.)

You all make it worth while.

[darkranger001]

while we're speaking off topic about how we got here.. I found I love bees
through a wikipedia entry about the haunted apiary.. it was pre-game at the time, and the netninja wiki hadn't been crashed buy the sheer volume of people. but from there I also found this board.. and haven't regretted that since. but I do wish I could do a bit more to help (bieng in canada and all that)

edited for spelling

[Scumbag]

[sherpa]

[thebruce]

Dork, you said precisely what I was going to say... I guess if I was looking at this like an ARG from the beginning, like the Beast, I'd be highly disappointed. But I came at it from no background, so I'm seeing it right now more of like a novel, where I'm reading half a page a day... and the rest of the novel isn't written so I can't look ahead... I'm more taken by the mystery, and it's fun to speculate as to what'll "happen next"... granted that's not ARG, but it's fun for me none-the-less...

and I'm with you Dork, unless things pick up again, I don't think I'll be able to "justify the time lost at work for much longer" and man have I lost time at work!