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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!) » The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!): Questions/Meta
[META][SPEC] Melissa's VA is a PM
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Prisoner2401
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 		[META][SPEC] Melissa's VA is a PM
Based on the transcripts and recordings of our live conversations with Melissa, I'd bet that her voice actress is one of the ARG's designers.

It doesn't effect the game one whit, but when the game ends, I'd be really fascinated to learn whether Melissa was voiced by a team (an actress at a terminal plus a lightning-fast typist, or something like that) or by a lone Jill-of-all-trades with a great voice, great improv skills, and a designer's knowledge of the ins and outs of the game.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 9:50 pm
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t-toe
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 		my guess is that the actress who plays Melissa (who I think may be the same actress as the Sleeping Princess) has a wiretap in one ear, and a headset on the other. and there's a PM listening in on the conversation (and recording it) and telling the actress what to say if it's not on the actress's quicklist of answers/responses to potential questions.

she's probably been fully briefed (to the best of her ability, depending on her interest in the subject, though I bet that was probably a factor in her employment) to the story thus far, and can improv to a degree, but needs to stall for time on the more difficult questions and wait for an answer from the PM. I seem to recall her being stumped by something one of the things someone said and giving an answer that didn't really fit into the story thus far...

that's my (somewhat educated) guess on the matter. what do you guys think?
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:01 pm
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Nova
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t-toe wrote:
she's probably been fully briefed (to the best of her ability, depending on her interest in the subject, though I bet that was probably a factor in her employment) to the story thus far, and can improv to a degree, but needs to stall for time on the more difficult questions and wait for an answer from the PM. I seem to recall her being stumped by something one of the things someone said and giving an answer that didn't really fit into the story thus far...


I believe that was a question about the current version number of the SPDR.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:10 pm
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Astald
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 		Yeah, but those of us that visit the ilovebees site on a daily basis don't know seeker's improv spdr number off the top of their heads. I wouldn't put it past her to be more deeply involved in this ARG than just reading lines and calling crewmembers.

PostPosted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:02 pm
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Prisoner2401
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t-toe wrote:
my guess is that the actress who plays Melissa (who I think may be the same actress as the Sleeping Princess) has a wiretap in one ear, and a headset on the other. and there's a PM listening in on the conversation (and recording it) and telling the actress what to say if it's not on the actress's quicklist of answers/responses to potential questions.

That image is precisely why this spec occurred to me in the first place. It just seems too complicated and unwieldy -- especially compared to the simple (yet tremendously cool) hypothesis that one (at least) of the PM's is a highly intelligent, multitalented woman.

The existence of such an adept would not be without precedent. Look up the name "Terri Brosius" -- a writer/designer on the Thief and System Shock game series, and also the unforgettable voice actress for Thief's Viktoria and System Shock's SHODAN.

It ocurred to me that maybe when we're envisioning the "men behind the curtain", we're envisioning them as, well, men. That bit of subtle sexism would definitely explain why the "voice actress prompted by puppet-masters" hypothesis appeared right away, while the "puppetmaster-as-voice actress" hypothesis hasn't been suggested until (barring someone slapping me with a fish) now.

And it may yet turn out that the PMs are all male, mouth-breathing, Microsoft Milhouses -- but what a bummer if so.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 12:43 am
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SuperJerms
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 		To be honest, I think I could field a call as Melissa about now...I think many of us could. So imagine how easily a PM could do it, or a VA who has read up on Melissa's MO.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 1:38 am
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Prisoner2401
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SuperJerms wrote:
To be honest, I think I could field a call as Melissa about now...I think many of us could.


I'm not so sure. Melissa has the capacity to make the game turn major corners in a matter of moments -- or, conversely, has the responsibility to reasonably deflect anything that could cause the game to take a turn that the PMs don't want it to take.

For instance, we might attempt to clue Melissa in to the fact that her SPDR is a cuckoo's egg (I know someone has; I don't recall the result). We might try to explain to her that Dana is just an innocent civilian who means her no harm. And those pieces of information could have a major impact on how the game proceeds. Melissa has to deal with accepting or deflecting infortmation like that, in real time, without straining her credibility as an AI persona from five hundred years in the future -- and most importantly, all in accordance with whatever directions the PMs will and won't allow the game to take.

And [spec-within-spec] she has to sound adorable as the Princess, too. Smile
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 4:43 am
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HitsHerMark
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 		A sufficantly briefed actress can do all that that.

Particularly one with a fair amount of Improv experience.

I supposed it comes down to a matter of trust between the PM and whoever they get to play the character. (And a matter of the PM(s) to have the confidance in the amount of information they've given on the character.)
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 9:51 am
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Phaedra
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 		Melissa Actress
I personally think she's one of the PMs. I agree that her knowledge of how to react to the unexpected and still keep to the storyline of the game seems to in-depth for her to just be an actress. (I'm thinking of various actors and actress that I've seen interviewed who were extremely involved in their project, and yet still didn't know the book, or the movie/tv show mythology or whatever to accurately answer detailed questions in interviews. Is it hard to accept that one of the women involved with the project could be a decent voice actress?

On a related note, it's hard to tell with the quality of the recordings, of course, but I don't think the same individual is doing both Melissa and the SP. I am pretty sure that the same woman is doing both Durga and Melissa, and I have a crazy theory that the same woman is doing Jan, Sophia and the SP.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 10:36 am
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turbov21
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 		Re: Melissa Actress
Phaedra wrote:
I am pretty sure that the same woman is doing both Durga and Melissa, and I have a crazy theory that the same woman is doing Jan, Sophia and the SP.


Aren't Jan and Rani the same actress?

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 11:04 am
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Kazic
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 		Whoever's doing all these voices is doing an AMAZING job! Jan especially this time.... *shudder*
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:11 pm
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daboking
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 		If she is one of the designers, then she more than likely is also active here in the forums (except on Tuesdays for obvious reasons).... has anyone been strangely silent today? Smile
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:31 pm
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Phaedra
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daboking wrote:
If she is one of the designers, then she more than likely is also active here in the forums (except on Tuesdays for obvious reasons).... has anyone been strangely silent today? Smile


Mmm. If she's one of the designers, then she likely reads the forums. It doesn't necessarily follow that she's active.

Also, when she was talking to Kali and me today, when she described the origin of our names, she paused in odd places. I think either someone was feeding her information, or she was reading.

EDIT: Also, right at the beginning of the call, she said something like, "I know you've been watching me," or "I know you've been waiting for me," or "I've been watching" or SOMETHING that I can't remember because I was freaking out at having a *live Melissa*. So, since she's never talked to me before, I've never been involved with the SP, etc. what the heck did that mean?

Did anyone else get anything like that?

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:06 pm
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Shad0
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 		Re: Watching Melissa
Phaedra wrote:
EDIT: Also, right at the beginning of the call, she said something like, "I know you've been watching me," or "I know you've been waiting for me," or "I've been watching" or SOMETHING that I can't remember because I was freaking out at having a *live Melissa*. So, since she's never talked to me before, I've never been involved with the SP, etc. what the heck did that mean?

Did anyone else get anything like that?

We all did. It's on the recorded calls as well:

Melissa wrote:
I knew you'd be there. I think you've been watching me for a long time.

Even the live Melissa sticks to the script at the beginning of the call. I think it's just a general comment about Melissa having finally figured out that we aren't really the crew of the Apocalypso, but people who've been watching her via the ILB site.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:18 pm
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Astald
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 		Maybe since you started conversation by saying "Melissa?" she said something like "You must have been waiting for me." But that is just a guess on my part.

PostPosted: Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:19 pm
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