unforum

[themill]

[META] Should we try another Slashdot posting?

[fyzle]

the lack of enhotenators is probably due to the beginning of the school year...

[SpghEddy]

please... let's not get slashdot involved.... we'll get a ton of people checking us out, who aren't really committed, and they will post lots of garbage, and they won't read the FAQs or the wiki, and there will be trout all over the place. I think it would be a bad idea.

It would be better to recruit friends, people you know, and get them involved. Or call gaming stores in the towns that none of us live in... things along those lines.

[krystyn]

Slashdot's already given some attention to this game and even these boards - we didn't die. I don't know if tapping them again for the limelight would be helpful, but it's not like that community (as sprawling and massive as it is) hasn't been informed of the game's existence before. They have.

[SpghEddy]

I think there was a noticible decline in the organization of the site, a huge proliferation of threads, and things got much harder to stay on top of after Slashot got involved. But, then again, there might still be people out there who would love to get involved in this game, who still don't know about it. *sigh*

[Bobman]

I think what Mill was trying to say is:

Maybe we should ask the /. people to help 'enhotenate' the axons. The 2 previous batches had all but 1 or 2 active within 2 days, while this one still has lots of cold axons. And if the next bunch takes 7 axons per audio file, we might never get these done.

Perhaps we could just give the /. people some locations and times, and ask for help answering phones. If we get another flurry of not-so-helpful posters in exchange for finishing off this batch and the next, I think it would be an acceptable trade. I doubt there will be so many, or stay around so long the second time.


In closing, I think a vote is certainly the best way to come to a decision about what to do.

[sherpa]

I'd be surprised if /. runs a story on us. What's to say? It's worth a try but perhaps link to non-UF sites (just ILB and an external co-ords->address mapper list) and let the dedicated find their way here. Let's not let the Slashbots run us aground.

[DeceptaconS]

I hate it when you guys talk about TROUTS..... The goal should be 777 axons anyway we can. I'm going to make a Website with instructions and locations, and post it on every forum I can. We need all the help we can get.

[Cherry Cotton]

I found this site through Slashdot myself. I think this is a good idea; but we need a good pitch. We need a story; and its a great story in itself that hundreds of Halo and ARG fans would cut work and go pick up payphones on the other side of town as part of a huge collaborative effort to solve a mystery that has SOMETHING, goddammit, to do with Halo 2.

Besides, it seems to be a slow news week for Slashdot Games. Let's give them some help.

[AngriBuddhist]

In response to a thread about getting help from Slashdot, this has been
written in an attempt to recruit the help we seem to need in getting the
remaining axons and .wav files. It has no direct links to these forums so
should not draw a huge influx of users. Be creative in where you put this
and post a link to it here.
Thanks to everyone for their input, especially "vpisteve" for not only
providing some links but also for creating one or two.


Hello,

We members of the Unfiction Unforums, in relation to the Ilovebees.com
(ILB) mystery, are here to ask for your assistance. This Alternate Reality
Game (or ARG) is starting to require more man power than we can
muster so any help would be appreciated.

Already, many of us have taken hours (if not days) off from work and
the excuses for why we need every Tuesday off have run dry. Believe
us, telling your Boss that you need to go answer a phone call sent by an
A.I. from the future just doesn't cut it.

To explain what we are asking, let me sum up our current situation.

The fictional story of ILB takes place in two distinct timeframes.
Part of the story takes place now, in 2004. These events take place in
realtime and allow us to interact with them.

The other part is in the Halo universe and appears to take place
sometime between Halo and Halo2. These events are presented to us in
pre-recorded .wav files that we must unlock through the previously
mentioned interaction.

In the future a human, military class, space vessel, the Apocolypso,
is on the outskirts of colonization. Among the many occupants of this
ship are a Castaway, an A.I., and a possible Covenant virus. During
routine flight a strange object is detected and brought on board. It
is small, locked, and might be of either Covenant or Forerunner origin.

Shortly after, the Apocolypso comes bursting out of slipstream (warp)
outside of Earth's atmosphere and crashes onto the planet.

The reason for this is unknown and seems to be hidden away in the
locked .wav files.

We do know however that somehow the crash causes an odd time
anomoly. The shipboard A.I. is somehow transported into our time onto
ILB, but due to the accident has limited functionality and has suffered a
loss of memory.

At this point in the game, the A.I. (who believes that we are it's crew) is
in contact with a counterpart in the Halo/Halo2 timeframe and is receiving
the aforementioned .wav files. In turn, with hopes that we will be able to
help understand them, it is transmitting these files to us in multiple pieces.

We started receiving these files on August 24th in the form of longitude
and latitude coordinates with very specific times. These coords were
grouped into about 30 sets and all represent the location of payphones
all across the U.S.

The first sets required us to correctly answer 2/7 telephones before the
.wav was unlocked. The second, 3/9. The third, 5/12.

The third and most current is moving along slowly but is almost finished.
Next Tuesday (9/14), however, would appear to be the fourth, last, and
most difficult, most likely requiring 8 or 9 out of 12 or 13 correctly
answered telephones. This will probably total around 200-240 separate
locations out of 408 total. As these calls all range from 6a.m. to 7p.m.,
you can see where our problem lies.

If unsuccessfull, these calls do repeat themselves everyday at the same
location and time.

If anyone has any interest in giving us a helping hand, here is a
comprehensive list of all locations, times, maps and instructions on how
to correctly answer these calls. The instructions and list of the
answered/unanswered phones will not be updated until Tuesday (9/14).

Locations/Times/Instructions-
http://www.argn.com/ilbmirrors/princess2-coords.html
NOTE: The times listed are Pacific Daylight Time

Answered/Unanswered Phones (9/14)-
http://ilovebees.com/comatas.html

Here are the .wav files that we have pieced together so far.
http://www.argn.com/archives/ilb/

Thank you,
Beekeepers

[HitsHerMark]

I don't see directions and a link to axon coords or anything on the site you link to... Just a mirror of the .wavs which they can get on the ILB site themselves... Which doesn't seem very helpful in getting people out to answer phones.

Just a thought.

[AngriBuddhist]

That was an example and could be easily edited.
I haven't found a list of coords with map links yet for 9/14.
Maybe you could help with that? Just a thought.

Yes, the link I did provide has the .wavs from ILB but also has the
compiled versions. And yes, I believe that understanding what it is
that they are after would help get people interested.

[vpisteve]

9/14 axons can be found at

http://www.theblackforge.net/princess2-coords.html

[AngriBuddhist]

Thanks for the help vpisteve.
Previous post edited with helpful links.

[archon]

As much as I am loathe to bring it up, the site Shacknews (as in, dot com) might be a good alternative to Slashdot. The reason I say them is because the Shack has a widespread fanbase across the U.S. of fairly hardcore gamers that could help us activate axons. Go into the comment systems and ask for help there, or try emailing the webmaster of the site and ask for an article to be pasted on the front page.