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 Forum index » Meta » Puppetmaster Help
Messengers
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Toaofenders
Boot


Joined: 16 Dec 2005
Posts: 32

 		Messengers
Yo!

I've been gleaning lots from this forum while preparing a project of mine and a friends, but have come into a small problem.

Which messengers are the best choice when doing ARGs?
I'm mainly an msn guy.
My second in command is a Yahoo dude.
And my best friend (he's in on the planning) likes AOL.

Should we branch and each use one for the different characters, or get unified under one banner? if its the later which one?

RGS out...
Toa of Enders
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 4:43 pm
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Ehsan
Entrenched

Joined: 09 May 2003
Posts: 992

 		My answer is none of the above.

An ARG to me would not involve instant messaging. The justification is too weak. Whether it's a pirate dialing in from the ship, someone from the future tapping into the matrix, or just a kid with a kidnapped dog looking for help, using messaging just doesn't fit. It doesn't make sense, it's not impressive, it's been done to death, and I find it shallow and boring.

Of course you can still use it for your project, and the choice would depend on your target audience, and what the majority of them use. I believe AIM is most popular in the states while MSN is the most popular everywhere else. You can use a multi-protocol client such as Gaim or Trillian to reduce the hassle of tapping into multiple networks.

PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 5:03 pm
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MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial

 		Re: Messengers
Toaofenders wrote:
Yo!

I've been gleaning lots from this forum while preparing a project of mine and a friends, but have come into a small problem.

Which messengers are the best choice when doing ARGs?
I'm mainly an msn guy.
My second in command is a Yahoo dude.
And my best friend (he's in on the planning) likes AOL.

Should we branch and each use one for the different characters, or get unified under one banner? if its the later which one?

RGS out...
Toa of Enders


If you use Trillian you can cover all three with one interface. I would suggest that you not start you game using the IMs, but rather wait until you have an established player base and then casually give it out as players offer the information to the characters.
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Magesteff
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead


PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:01 am
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Phaedra
Lurker v2.0


Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Posts: 4033
Location: Here, obviously

 		Don't listen to what they're telling you. If you want to do this right, you have to start by IMing hkdl.

(</joke>)
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:10 am
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rowan
Unfictologist

Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 1966
Ehsan wrote:
An ARG to me would not involve instant messaging. The justification is too weak.

But what about lonely guys looking for girls in their area? Is that not a real that thing happens? And if it's not, can someone explain to me what all my past chatlogs of desperate men mean?

Not that I'm suggesting IM'ing is a good thing to do. The more you message certain individuals, the more the others playing the game will feel like they've missed out on something. And it's extremely tedious to read chatlogs. You also have to be extremely good at improv and not making mistakes that'll come back to bite you in the butt later. You're never going to always get the person who asks just the questions you want them to. You'll end up getting people like me who won't take No for an answer. And the more you try giving your prepared statement, the more you're going to be asked about Magma Gnomes while talking to a veteran from WWI. And if you don't believe that, I have the logs to prove it.
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:09 pm
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e_nygma
Decorated

Joined: 17 May 2006
Posts: 247
Location: Maryland, US
rowan72 wrote:
But what about lonely guys looking for girls in their area? Is that not a real that thing happens? And if it's not, can someone explain to me what all my past chatlogs of desperate men mean?


Well, I'd have to see your chat logs to be sure, but I'd say as a random guess, it was because they wanted to discuss Hegelian philosophy with you. Obviously, you, being of good taste, wanted nothing to do with them and rightfully so. Kierkegaard perhaps, but Hegel? Please. How declasse.

(e_nygma knows nothing of either gentleman (beyond how to spell their names properly) or either's works)


To actually be on topic, rowan made a good point about how painful it is to read through chat logs. I was going to suggest that you have one of your characters post the results of a chat log with your "source" (you could even make it so the source used an account once and only once, so you didn't have to worry about your players bugging you at all times), but A) that's quite contrived and B) really irritating for both you and your players.

One last thing to think of if you are going the instant messager route: one or two conversations simultaneously is easy, but what happens if there is a major puzzle and the solution is found or the players are stumped? Can you handle tens or hundreds of simultaneous requests? How fast before your brain gets tired of hearing "ding" or your sound card gives up the ghost? Email at least allows you a chance to figure out where you are going before replying.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:29 am
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