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Resurrecting A Dead ARG...
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jlr1001
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Joined: 06 Jun 2006
Posts: 210

 		Resurrecting A Dead ARG...
This is something I've been thinking about for a while....

When a grassroot ARG takes hold, builds a small but interested player base, but ultimately implodes, shouldn't others step in and offer support? Or even to take over the ARG just to keep the experience going?

Obviously this is a simple question to solve, just ask the PM (assuming you know who that person is and how to contact him/her/them/it). But as a matter of discussion, should this become a practice or should well enough be left alone?



-jlr1001

PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 2:35 pm
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aliendial
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 		The lesson learned from failure is as important -- let them savor it.
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 3:54 pm
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CreativeEmbassy
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 		Ouch. Harsh response, dontcha think? Savoring failure?

No, the players shouldn't be expected to do anything. However, if a few of them still want to continue the game, I believe they should if the PM lets them. And this has happened before.

Colin Brennan started a small game called .hack, to celebrate the anime franchise of the same name. He only wanted it to last around two weeks (and he only had enough funds for a month), but the player base expanded at a pace much bigger than he thought, and before long, it went from 2 weeks, to three weeks, to a month, and beyond. Around the third week, he asked me to step behind the curtain and help with some BTS stuff. In hindsight, he probably should have either asked for more financial help somewhere, or ended the storyline, but the players kept begging for more.

One month later, life issues and financial problems finally take their toll, and he announces he can't continue the game any longer. I haven't PMed a game yet, only worked BTS on several, so I told him I couldn't take on the full responsibility. In the end, we had another team of two people (former players) take on the project, and extend the game for two more months until it ended, with a complete storyline, a full list of puzzles, the whole nine yards.

So it can be done, and it has been done. I'm curious if you're speaking about a game already in play though...
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:23 am
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PhiloticVoid
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Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Posts: 6
Location: Western NY
CreativeEmbassy wrote:
Ouch. Harsh response, dontcha think? Savoring failure?

No, the players shouldn't be expected to do anything. However, if a few of them still want to continue the game, I believe they should if the PM lets them. And this has happened before.

Colin Brennan started a small game called .hack, to celebrate the anime franchise of the same name. He only wanted it to last around two weeks (and he only had enough funds for a month), but the player base expanded at a pace much bigger than he thought, and before long, it went from 2 weeks, to three weeks, to a month, and beyond. Around the third week, he asked me to step behind the curtain and help with some BTS stuff. In hindsight, he probably should have either asked for more financial help somewhere, or ended the storyline, but the players kept begging for more.

One month later, life issues and financial problems finally take their toll, and he announces he can't continue the game any longer. I haven't PMed a game yet, only worked BTS on several, so I told him I couldn't take on the full responsibility. In the end, we had another team of two people (former players) take on the project, and extend the game for two more months until it ended, with a complete storyline, a full list of puzzles, the whole nine yards.

So it can be done, and it has been done. I'm curious if you're speaking about a game already in play though...


I know the PM in question that Colin chose to continue the game. Even if it did run smoothly on the outside, from what I've heard there seemed to be a lot of in-house fighting and other very stressful difficulties with continuing the game. Of course, I might be completely wrong, as I simply heard it from him (and another source), but who knows. I'd imagine that trying to pick up a game that is the work of a totally different mind could make you second-guess yourself and wonder if you were doing what the original PM had in mind. That could prove to be very stressful.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 11:49 pm
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James Blond
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Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 134
PhiloticVoid wrote:
CreativeEmbassy wrote:
Ouch. Harsh response, dontcha think? Savoring failure?

No, the players shouldn't be expected to do anything. However, if a few of them still want to continue the game, I believe they should if the PM lets them. And this has happened before.

Colin Brennan started a small game called .hack, to celebrate the anime franchise of the same name. He only wanted it to last around two weeks (and he only had enough funds for a month), but the player base expanded at a pace much bigger than he thought, and before long, it went from 2 weeks, to three weeks, to a month, and beyond. Around the third week, he asked me to step behind the curtain and help with some BTS stuff. In hindsight, he probably should have either asked for more financial help somewhere, or ended the storyline, but the players kept begging for more.

One month later, life issues and financial problems finally take their toll, and he announces he can't continue the game any longer. I haven't PMed a game yet, only worked BTS on several, so I told him I couldn't take on the full responsibility. In the end, we had another team of two people (former players) take on the project, and extend the game for two more months until it ended, with a complete storyline, a full list of puzzles, the whole nine yards.

So it can be done, and it has been done. I'm curious if you're speaking about a game already in play though...


I know the PM in question that Colin chose to continue the game. Even if it did run smoothly on the outside, from what I've heard there seemed to be a lot of in-house fighting and other very stressful difficulties with continuing the game. Of course, I might be completely wrong, as I simply heard it from him (and another source), but who knows. I'd imagine that trying to pick up a game that is the work of a totally different mind could make you second-guess yourself and wonder if you were doing what the original PM had in mind. That could prove to be very stressful.

Trust me, there was no fighting at all. Wing and I got along just fine. Wink

As for difficulties, I'm not going to lie. It wasn't easy. When I took over for Sera, she told me almost nothing about where she wanted the story to end up. I had to find a way to tie up loose ends and finish the story on my own. Not only that, but I also had to reinvent the way the game was played, and get all of the former players back.

The end result was far from perfect, but for our first time PMing a game, I think Wing and I did a good job.

(May I ask who your source was?)

PostPosted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 11:17 pm
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Phaedra
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James Blond wrote:
(May I ask who your source was?)


Since this apparently involves a certain amount of negative hearsay about the PMing efforts of regular members of the ARG community, might I suggest that for the comfort of all involved, this might be something better discussed via private message? Smile
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 11:36 pm
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James Blond
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Joined: 29 Jul 2004
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Phaedra wrote:
James Blond wrote:
(May I ask who your source was?)


Since this apparently involves a certain amount of negative hearsay about the PMing efforts of regular members of the ARG community, might I suggest that for the comfort of all involved, this might be something better discussed via private message? Smile
It certainly can. Wink

PostPosted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:09 am
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jlr1001
Decorated

Joined: 06 Jun 2006
Posts: 210

 		In starting this post I wasn't meaning to dredge up enmity about any particular game, but rather a class of games that we're all familiar with...

The ones where they start off in a rather creative manner, a core audience of dedicated players develops, the game progresses, then-- poof-- nothing... Either the players get stuck and the PM(s) is/are waiting for them to bridge the gap or, for some reason, the PM isn't able to continue the game.

In the best cases the PM will notify players that the came is on hiatus, but there are many instances where the game simply dies...

That's what I was talking about. Would it be in bad form to (attempt to) contact the PM of a popular, though newly dead, game and offer to take over?


-jlr1001

PostPosted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:44 am
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