unforum

[Daniel_Tyr]

Your Advice to a New PM

[Varin]

I'll assume you have already read through the PM section here since that's where you are posting.

Other places you can find information/help...

The PM forums at deaddrop.

The #pmchat channel- you can access through unfiction's chat app or using your own IRC client. Every so often there will be a scheduled "so you wanna be a PM" chat, but the room is always there for new PMs to stop by and ask questions in.

It's a good idea to read through at least a couple guides/wikis of previous ARGs if you haven't participated in more than one.

Advice I can give...

Don't try to run your ARG by yourself because it is a major undertaking. Take a guess about how much time per day you think it takes to run an ARG and double that... or maybe even triple or quadruple it.

[MageSteff]

[White_Knight]

trust the old hands on this one....we've been around a while.... and seen many games been made. I've even been lucky enough to be allowed to watch a few groups of PM's work but not been personaly involved in the making of the game and its a HUGE job, just watching it is tiring.

I think that everyone thats been behind that curtain will tell you the same bit of advice:

Float round for a while, keep mentioning you're itching to get involved, let a team take you under its wing (they usaly will come to you), and work on a team before you try to run your own.

I've seen too many good game ideas go out the window because of inexperiance and just crumble. Its hard work. But worth it.

Games take a long time to develop....I've been working on a particular plot and doing research for about 3 years now.... and only just now think I'm ready to settle down and find my self a team of insomniac webdesigners

Just like in the cheese bussiness "good things take time"

[Katsurame]

In addition to the already excellent ideas presented in this thread, you might want to find some PM's on AIM or another instant messenger program and ask them about different things. I've talked to many extremely helpful PM's including Nightmare Tony and Colin Brennan on various ARG related problems and they have proven to be tremendously willing to help you along.

Lot's of PMs, as far as I've seen, like to bounce ideas off other PM's, since you can generally trust that your game ideas won't be spread or stolen by them. You'll be treated with respect right away, which is a great gift to have as a starting PM. Being able to refine ideas with a more experienced PM can be amazingly helpful and useful. If you can, see if you can get a senior PM to become your teacher for a time. You'll learn things you won't find on open websites.