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[AngBa]

I've had this conversation with a couple of people about how one sided it is. I think possibly since this seems to be the second attempt at a previously failed launch that they are testing the waters to make sure they have a dedicated player base before proceeding ahead at full force. Now, I believe that we have a small but strong core group of players that definitely want to see this to it's finish - and with the website/message boards being set up, hopefully it will draw even more players.

[GoodChild]

I completely understand about wanting a core group of dedicated players, but the one-sided interaction is having the opposite effect now. It's going to drive players away because there isn't anything for them to do except set up webpages and make videos. Some of us can't do those things. So what is there left for us to do? take guesses about made-up words and search the internet for now defunct wikipedia pages.

I for one have had one conversation with the dr, which basically consisted of me introducing myself to him and then him running off. I have never had another conversation with him. Not for lack of trying on my part.

If there is nothing for me to do here but have a story spoon fed to me, then i don't want to play anymore. That's why I go the movies. That's why i watch TV. I play args so that my brain gets some sort of a work-out. The skull puzzle was great but is that it? one puzzle and the rest of the time we have to search for things we will never find on the internet either because we don't have nearly enough information, or those things aren't on the internet to begin with?

[mycroftxxx]

Hyexistenz - I'm getting fairly certain at this point that AV isn't really an ARG at all. It gets lumped in with them because there aren't a lot of fine gradiations in the "genre" that ARG's belong to. AV has really played out a lot more like an "interactive story, slight puzzles". I'm not sure there's ever going to be enough stuff to keep a normal complement of non-interacting puzzlebreakers active. On the other hand, for those who _do_ interact, the characters are developed enough that long off-topic discussions turn out to be "fruitful" because interaction between the characters is the goal rather than acquiring clues.

I should probably spin all this off into its own [meta] post, but I'm kinda afraid of having people who know what they're talking about enter the conversation. But I don't think there's really many puzzles here beyond the who/what of AV. the information we've gleaned so far hasn't really taken us in any of the directions that a "normal" ARG would have. We have no history to delve through, no real characters we can track down. We have the doc, and what he talks about - that's the whole puzzle.

Now, I agree, it would be nice if he talked to everyone. Unfortunately, it looks like a nod to realism has been made (probably to keep the PM's involvement in the game merely strenuous rather than superhuman) and the doc is only opening up to a couple handfulls of people. That does suck. In the end, I think that's an issue of staff-size. All the evidence I've seen points to this game being run by a single individual in his spare time.

so, what it comes down to is a staff-size problem. He doesn't respond to larger numbers because this isn't the sort of puzzle-work that can be done in advance.

[aside: bunch of IG stuff just came up, speaking of - will try to finish this post in a bit, or go ahead and spin off the [META] post.]

[GoodChild]

Mycroft, you're right, this is more of an interactive story than an arg...and that's the frustrating part. for most of the people "participating" here there is no interaction. if that's the type of game the PMs want to run, that's fine, but then maybe the PM shouldn't think about going this alone when only one or two people actually get to interact with characters. we all don't need the level of interaction that Ang gets, of course not. But the only levels of interaction i have seen is complete attention and absolute ignoring. that's not very fun. If the PMs want to play with genre and create an interactive story, then the PMs should get more friends to interact with more than two people.

I'm sorry you guys, i'm really frustrated by this game's structure. I hope no one thinks I'm personally attacking them. I strongly feel that players should feel free to voice opinions about how the game is running, so that the PMs can take note and adjust accordingly, if the game so requires. I don't think i'm the only one who is frustrated by the nature of this arg, but if i am i will stop speaking up.

[maradydd]

hyexistenz, I wouldn't say the only two levels of interaction are complete attention and absolute ignoring -- to me, it seems like much more of a continuum. I've had a few conversations with the Doctor which seemed pretty rewarding; I got them by thinking about how I wanted to go into the discussion, what topics I wanted to bring up, and what kind of information I wanted to get out of him. I started with an email to him about biology and threw in a side remark about witchcraft; he didn't bite on the bio thing, but he asked me a lot of questions about Wicca and later we got into dreams. In both cases, doing some research beforehand and a browser open to Wikipedia were invaluable. I think about in-game chats the way I think about business meetings, as opposed to chats with friends: "strategy" is going in with a plan and a set of goals you want to accomplish, and "tactics" is reprioritising those goals and the tools you use to achieve them on the fly as the discussion plays out.

Similarly, when we've had puzzles, people have contributed at all levels; tipsila and I (and someone else whose name I'm spacing on) beat our heads into the skull code for quite some time, then James blew in out of nowhere with a solve. Whoever it was that made the "AMUKTOR" connexion may very well have also provided the group with an important lead, particularly with the Doc mentioning that as a nickname; this is all good stuff, and more important yet, all (er, well, mostly) non-interactive.

Now, maybe I'm biased here, because I'm an absurdly busy person and can't commit large chunks of my life to an ARG. I got into this one precisely because of the slow pace. (Well, that and because mycroft prodded me.) My last ARG before this was Metacortechs; I started the Trail on that one and completely blew off classes for a week trying to keep it updated, burned out on it thanks to midterms, and haven't gotten seriously involved in ARGing since. I like the fact that I can take a few days off to enjoy the weekend to myself and not discover that I've missed five or six important turns in the game; if you're looking for something with a faster pace, more puzzles and/or more individual interaction, perhaps this isn't the ARG for you? I mean no disrespect to you, and don't mean to denigrate your feelings, but please consider the fact that you're the one who gets to choose what you spend your time on.

Similarly, if you really want to interact closely with the characters in the game, my advice is to plan your strategy a few moves in advance, figure out what information you want to obtain and what the best route to it is. Don't be discouraged if one route fails; what's worked well for me is starting with a couple of strategies and readily abandoning those that don't seem to adapt well to the PM's style. (In the biology instance, I totally understand why that one failed -- if my main character were a biologist but I weren't, I'd be pretty intimidated if a scientist approached the main character and say "let's talk shop!", so it doesn't surprise me at all that the Doc said "sorry, my work is too secret to talk about.")

And don't feel intimidated about speaking up; it's certainly your right to do so. Just remember that the PMs have the right to run their game the way they want to run it, too.

[Arkaham]

I couldn't find the META discussion, so I guess this'll keep going here for the time being.

This is my first ARG. And even then I know this is not like most ARG's. But I know I wouldn't be able to deal with a big one right now. I tried with the sameeeees thing, and was left behind very fast. While I was still trying to understand what the hell was a chiper they had alredy moved ten puzzles ahead.

But I play a lot of RPG's so the roleplaying aspect of AV caught my attention. The PM's are really good at staying coherent IC. So catching their attention is some sort of 'puzzle'. If you write to the doc asking for the meaning of the things he post he will not reply. Why would he? he spends all day asking himself those same questions. If you ask about his past or his family he won't either, we know it was not normal, why share something like that with a stranger?

I tried at least three diferent things untill I decided to go with the magic BS. And is not the fact that I made a video. He replied to me before I did that just because I told him I had some knowledge of the occult.


My advice is that those who feel left behind stop trying with the doc and focus on Sarah. From her blog we have a lot of information about her. Write to tell her your boss get you in trouble too, or that while you're interested in the AV thing, you're a fan of baseball and would like to discuss the latest game.

[Arkaham]

Ok, the evil witch trew me a curve ball:

[tipsila]

Hmmm, she spelled Amuktor differently... Amuktar

Mukhtar in arabic means "chosen"
Mukhtar is also a noun in Arabic that refers to the head of a village.
Al-Mukhtar was an early Muslim revolutionary
Mukhtar is also commonly used name in Somalia

[maradydd]

[ardiente]

Naamah "is generally regarded as an aspect or relation of Lilith"

[AngBa]

I say we egg her house:

From my package...

Sarah Portensen
1000 Holcombe
Houston, TX 77030


(cuz I'm sure it's a GOOD return addy...)

[ardiente]

Or how about an exorcism:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Courses/Demons/Resources/liturgy.html

[Wabonan]

Hey Angba that gives rise to a question I have...Why do you think she wanted my, tip, james. ect..addresses? she didn't send us anything.... you think we will get taunting randsom notes now???

I knew that name was fake... no one in the white pages has the last name portensen

[mycroftxxx]

Oh hell yes, if we're doing in-game magick we have a couple of interesting angles to persue. Unfortunately, as I see them, they're both somewhat labor intensive.

Angle 1: The video. Arkaham prepares his first "separatist" video and then we go to work preparing a booby-trapped invocation of Lillith. The second video can incorporate an angelic invocation, or a few psy-war techniques, or both. For psywar techniques, I would suggest incorporating a flashing stobe light set to between 5 and 8 flashes a second to induce theta or "daydreaming" barinwave activity. If Arkaham is up to it, a little study into ritual invocation and hypnosis would allow him to theoretically place a viewer in a state of enhanced receptivity before switching rituals midstream and springing a trap.

Angle 2: boobytrapped CD. I have not been "outed" by Sarah yet. My discussions with the doc have been more along the angle of attaining personal power over what is happening to him. To this end, I have directed his attention to devices that alter brainwave activity to allow him to attempt a concious interaction with entities that show up during his dreams and seem to be guiding his metamorphosis. I have already indicated that I would be willing to construct such a device for him and create a CD with appropriate music by Tori Amos (Doc likes Tori, and I happen to know IRL that four of her songs played in sequence work really well as an audio companion to a flasher for achieving theta-state hypnogoia). I could go down to the big electronics store and grab the parts for a simple pair of flasher goggles and try and find copies of the songs online. Something would need to be added to the CD to act as a trap for the doc. Again, basic hypnotic technique would probably be the best. One could start with a relaxation track, play the four songs, and then include an invocation, or somehting.


Now Sarah's talking to me. Argh, she's difficult.

[mycroftxxx]

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