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 Forum index » Meta » Puppetmaster Help
Things learned from the meseage center
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DeformedUncleLouie
Decorated


Joined: 22 May 2005
Posts: 220

 		Things learned from the meseage center
Ok here is a little PM diary after writing the first of many Message Center games "The Room of Doom."


First off, everyone should make an ARG. It is a great experience. I am a struggling actor/writer and this is a great experience. I just learned a lot about how people view characters and the need to build a relationship between them. So here is a short list of stuff I learned.

CHECK SPELLING- I know I can't spell. Always been a problem with me, but for some reason, I thought it would not be a big deal. WRONG! People will first think, "Misspellings? Must be a clue!" 5 mins later you then get "No, this guy is just an idiot". Now I think because of firefox I could not Cut and Paste to a lot of sites. Damn that sucked.

GIVE ALL CHARACTERS A BACK STORY- Make sure you know what happened before the "game" started. I did that a little, making Anthony a wrestling fan. I found it is very important to have you characters be able to talk about just random stuff they enjoy. It makes them more real. I did it a little, but I should have gone much farther.

LAUNCH CREATIVELY- I truly agree that if I had not launch though KOL and just sent messages to board members, no one would have played. Launch is important. Do it well.

DO IT WITH A FRIEND- Doing a game alone is hard. I did it alone, and I got nothing done for a week. It is possible to run it yourself, but with help it is soooooo much easier. What I am trying to say is I'm for heir.

COUNT ON YOUR REAL LIFE TO INTERFERE- It will happen, make sure you can handle it. Nothing will kill you more then a telling you players you will be on at 7 and then you are a no show. The way I handled it was I never said when I would be on. Not the best thing to do, but it was so I never missed a date. Also if you have something interferes, make it part of the story. When I had to go somewhere real fast, I claimed that the Room of Doom lost power. That's right that was not planned.

DECIDE HOW MUCH YOU ARE IN REALITY- I made a big mistake in that I wanted it to feel like this could really happen, but then I added a robot. That was stupid. So don't make my mistake, and decide.

DON'T WRITE IN A STRAIGHT LINE- Don't think about your story as a one way street. The best way to see an ARG is in plot points. Write towards a plot point. Think of a bunch of possible ways that things could change at that plot point. Then think of the story from each of the changes and how it would then reach the next plot point. You have to keep in mind the changes your players can make. It seems obvious when talking about an ARG, but I still kinda threw me off a little.

MAKE YOU CHARACTERS TALK DIFFERENTLY- I did this poorly. A first Eric sounded very different from the others. Then they all started to sound like Eric. I also thing they all used the word "Kinda" a bunch of time. Make them talk differently, gives them depth.

PICK YOUR HUMOR CAREFULLY- Add stand-up comic to the list of things that I struggle at. I am so use to adding little jokes to the stuff I write. This is bad. Everything can use a splash of humor, but be careful where. It can lead people down the wrong road, witch I nearly did a few times.

So that's it for now, just the basic stuff I learned from my first ARG. Feel free to disagree. Thanks for playing again.
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Hold, my cold dangerous fink.

PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 2:23 pm
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SirQuady
Unfettered


Joined: 15 Jan 2006
Posts: 576

 		Re: Things learned from the meseage center
Despite not having PMed a game yet, i can comment on one thing Louie said:
DeformedUncleLouie wrote:

MAKE YOU CHARACTERS TALK DIFFERENTLY- I did this poorly. A first Eric sounded very different from the others. Then they all started to sound like Eric. I also thing they all used the word "Kinda" a bunch of time. Make them talk differently, gives them depth.

This is made easier by doing things with friends. Every person has unique speech, mannerisms, accents, in talking as well as typing. With a team of PMs and BTSers, you can split up the characters between people!
_________________
There once was a [person] from [place]
Whose [body part] was [special case].
When [event] would occur,
It would cause [him or her]
To violate [law of time/space].

PostPosted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:30 pm
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audioslave
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 547
Location: Canada

 		Re: Things learned from the meseage center
SirQuady wrote:
Despite not having PMed a game yet, i can comment on one thing Louie said:
DeformedUncleLouie wrote:

MAKE YOU CHARACTERS TALK DIFFERENTLY- I did this poorly. A first Eric sounded very different from the others. Then they all started to sound like Eric. I also thing they all used the word "Kinda" a bunch of time. Make them talk differently, gives them depth.

This is made easier by doing things with friends. Every person has unique speech, mannerisms, accents, in talking as well as typing. With a team of PMs and BTSers, you can split up the characters between people!


Y'know, that sounds alot easier than it acctually is

I've tried; it leads to alot of problems... (and no, I'm not responsible for one of those horrible melt-down trailheads)

I'm still trying, but I'm begining to think I took on too many people (10)
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 2:12 am
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SirQuady
Unfettered


Joined: 15 Jan 2006
Posts: 576

 		Yeah, plus it depends on how well you know the other people. If it's just a random bunch of people, it's harder to work with. If you've played an arg or two with those people or know them in Meatspace (IRL), etc. It is often easier to work together (I'm speaking from experience).
_________________
There once was a [person] from [place]
Whose [body part] was [special case].
When [event] would occur,
It would cause [him or her]
To violate [law of time/space].

PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 7:09 pm
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catherwood
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee

Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 4109
Location: Silicon Valley, CA

 		Re: Things learned from the meseage center
It seems to me that the majority of items on this list apply to anyone writing a book, a story, a novel, a play, a script of any kind. If you want to publish to the world, expect to pay heed to this list.

CHECK SPELLING- (don't distract from the content)

GIVE ALL CHARACTERS A BACK STORY- (realism can be subtle)

DON'T WRITE IN A STRAIGHT LINE- (surprise us)

MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS TALK DIFFERENTLY- (realism can be obvious)

DECIDE HOW MUCH YOU ARE IN REALITY- (be consistent)

PICK YOUR HUMOR CAREFULLY- (don't offend your target audience)

All of the above apply to the structure of a story and the quality of the written word. This goes right to the core of how an ARG is experienced. Respect your audience and give them some measure of professionalism. Would anyone dive into publishing a novel or filming a movie the way some people casually approach the craft of puppetmastering a game?

DO IT WITH A FRIEND- (don't be the star actor, writer, producer, director, and cameraman all yourself)

COUNT ON YOUR REAL LIFE TO INTERFERE- (this is more than a hobby)

LAUNCH CREATIVELY- (get noticed)

These perhaps apply more to ARGs than other forms of entertainment. I doubt that John Grisham asks a friend to write dialog for him, yet his characters still speak with different voices. He also doesn't worry about real life interfering, because this is his work and is his real life. Consider how good your ARG would be if you could devote all of your working hours to this one task.

And even movies and novels still look for creative marketing. The launch can be pre-publicity, or it can be an opening-day extraveganza to generate buzz.

PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:34 pm
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