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 Forum index » Meta » General META Discussion
New Resource -- ARG History Wiki
Moderators: imbri, ndemeter
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Phaedra
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Joined: 21 Sep 2004
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Location: Here, obviously

 		New Resource -- ARG History Wiki
For a long time, I've been looking for a resource that provides a brief overview of the ARGs that have concluded, with some sort of basic descriptions as well as a way to tell what players thought about them.

I've found a lot of resources for individual games, and resources about ARGs in general, but there are a lot of games that don't have much in the way of a plot summary sitting around, and reading through the archived forum threads about them is neither a satisfying nor a particularly efficient way to learn about them.

SpaceBass' Compendium is a nice resource, but it doesn't really provide things like plot summaries, etc. for many games. (This is not a criticism -- I'm glad we have it! Smile Just an observation.)

There's been a lot of discussion around here about ways to help new PMs, and one of the suggestions often given is that there is a lot to be learned from studying past games, and observe what worked and what didn't, and what's been tried before.

However, there's not really an easy way to do that, just as there isn't really a centralized place for player reviews of games, which could be valuable in helping PMs determine what people liked and what they didn't.

Of the resources that do exist chronicling past games, none are particularly skimmable.

So, I guess it's pretty understandable why many people choose not to really try to read up on past games before launching their own.

So, I made one. An ARG History Wiki.

The idea is to provide both an alphabetical and a chronological list of games, with each name followed by a one-sentence description (the one I used for ILB was "A massive and enduringly popular game that used payphones as one of its primary story-telling platforms").

When you click on the name, it takes you to a page providing a brief summary like the one SpaceBass has in the compendium, followed by more detailed sections with a plot summary, a description of the game structure, a section on the game's notable features, press links (if any) and so on. There's also a link to a page for players to review the game.

So far, the only one I've done is ILB. I'm going to try to get something in place for LCP, since I think the best time to get people to review a game is right after they've played it.

However, I haven't played very many ARGs, so my actual, legitimate contributions are probably going to be minimal.

I think this has the potential to provide a much-needed resource to PMs and people who are just interested in ARGs in general, as well as providing information on the smaller-scale grassroots ARGs that didn't get any press and don't have many, if any, player-created resources like their own guides or wikis.

So please feel free to check it out, and edit to your heart's content! Smile

There's also a section for PM comments, so if you PMed a game and would like to share anything about your game there, I think it would enrich the resource significantly.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about wikis, so if anyone wants to suggest better ways to structure it, fancy-shmancy wiki stuff, or so on, it'd be greatly appreciated. Or just go ahead and fix it. I don't even actually know what'll happen when the first person besides me registers.

If you are going to start an entry on a game, please don't feel like you have to do the whole entry (in other words, just because you don't have the time/inclination to do a complete entry for a game, please don't let that stop you from starting one). I spent all morning doing the ILB one (well, that and setting up the wiki), so I can attest that it's a lot of work, and probably best done by a group of people over time. Smile

And, if no one wants to participate, at least I learned the basics of making a wiki, so it won't be a total loss...
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:27 pm
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MageSteff
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Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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 		Re: New Resource -- ARG History Wiki
Phaedra wrote:
For a long time, I've been looking for a resource that provides a brief overview of the ARGs that have concluded, with some sort of basic descriptions as well as a way to tell what players thought about them.
...

SpaceBass' Compendium is a nice resource, but it doesn't really provide things like plot summaries, etc. for many games. (This is not a criticism -- I'm glad we have it! Smile Just an observation.)
...

If you are going to start an entry on a game, please don't feel like you have to do the whole entry (in other words, just because you don't have the time/inclination to do a complete entry for a game, please don't let that stop you from starting one). I spent all morning doing the ILB one (well, that and setting up the wiki), so I can attest that it's a lot of work, and probably best done by a group of people over time. Smile

And, if no one wants to participate, at least I learned the basics of making a wiki, so it won't be a total loss...


There are a few games that I have been part of that I would be willing to write the "blurbs" for but being a code idiot, i.e. never hire me to make your web page. I am strictly a template user and even then I have a LOT of mistakes in it, I'm afraid I would make more of a mess than of the nice thing than add anything too it.

If some one would make a basic plug in page template, I would be willing to go along behind and add in the stuff I know on Chasing the Wish and Acheron.

Edited because I can't spell and put spaces in the wrong place.
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A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead


PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 8:09 pm
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Nightmare Tony
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Joined: 07 Jun 2004
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 		will add in for Tranquil valley included some wild non used game concepts Smile
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:59 am
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RungeKutta
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Joined: 01 Aug 2004
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 		Sounds good, but why not call it the ARGchive or something?

PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:25 pm
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Phaedra
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RungeKutta wrote:
Sounds good, but why not call it the ARGchive or something?


Erm, 'cause I'm not creative like that? (It's about ARGs...it's a wiki...end of name thought process...) Embarassed

And it might get slimmed down significantly design-wise, so I'm not sure that it'll actually end up resembling an archive.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:09 pm
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Lovek
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Joined: 02 Mar 2005
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 		I'd really like to see something like this, too!

I'm just posting to express my interest, offer my help, and bump this topic so that others will see it and we can get this thing fired up again!

Also, if someone knows of other websites, you could post them here. Not that I want to hijack Phaedra's thread.

PostPosted: Thu May 18, 2006 6:37 pm
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Phaedra
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 		Well, as it turns out, Jamesi's got a more organized version going, and I believe he's looking for volunteers, so I'd suggest going there. Smile
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PostPosted: Thu May 18, 2006 6:46 pm
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Lovek
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Phaedra wrote:
Well, as it turns out, Jamesi's got a more organized version going, and I believe he's looking for volunteers, so I'd suggest going there. Smile


Oh! Neato!

Phaedra, you'll be happy to know that Googling "ARG plot summaries" sans quotes brings up this thread as the second link, right after an IMDB entry for a Swedish movie.

PostPosted: Thu May 18, 2006 6:59 pm
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Phaedra
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Joined: 21 Sep 2004
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Lovek wrote:
Phaedra wrote:
Well, as it turns out, Jamesi's got a more organized version going, and I believe he's looking for volunteers, so I'd suggest going there. Smile


Oh! Neato!

Phaedra, you'll be happy to know that Googling "ARG plot summaries" sans quotes brings up this thread as the second link, right after an IMDB entry for a Swedish movie.


It has always been a goal of mine to be second only to the Swedish. Wink
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PostPosted: Thu May 18, 2006 8:34 pm
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