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[duckiemonster]

[Out of Interest] Has PXC jumped the shark?

[poozle]

Personally, no, its died down in the last week or two but thats more to do with the SF Connection and everyone being busy preparing for that, I think it will pick up again in the next couple of weeks and I will definitely still be here for season 2, internet connection permitting

[GuyIncognito]

PXC has come a long way, and it certainly has changed. I remember reading about people finding these strange postcards at some airport and having no idea what they were all about. Knowing nothing about ARGs, everything seemed so mysterious...people were stumbling into rabbit-holes, instead of being pushed in by advertisments on every single website. So I feel that PXC - and ARGs in general - have lost some of their fascination and magic.

But it's the same with everything that touches me and then crosses over into the mainstream. Every single time a graphic novel was made into a movie, I remember how much the source material meant to me 10 years ago. And now everybody thought they knew the story, but liked/disliked it for all the wrong reasons. Or take an underground band that ends up in the charts a few months later...it's bound to alienate the old-school fans and it's hard not to be jaded about it.

But the way I see it, things just change. Okay, so V for Vendetta - The Movie is not the same as V for Vendetta - The Graphic Novel. And I sure hated it when Tricky ended up in mainstream Lifestyle-magazines. So what? For me, the trick is to enjoy it for what it is, have a good time with it and find something new to be all undergroundy about. Change is good (I hope)...I don't want to end up preaching to my kids about the good-old days. (Be sure to remind me of that when they put out Watchmen - The Movie...)

[lhall]

[UKver2.0]

I haven't been around long enough to judge this, but I can say that it isn't really an ARG so much as a puzzle card collecting game with live puzzle solving events and a story line. If it was at one point a real ARG and we're asking if this ARG has jumped, then I'd say yes. On the other hand, it's fun and addictive and has an awesome community - and by those criteria, I'd say it's in its prime. I can see where the guys that have been around since the beginning might be losing interest, but for us newer people - I'd say we're happy. I suppose it might start to get lame if the long-timers spend their remaining days posting everywhere about how good it USED to be, but that's something we're all used to by now. Like the guy who was posting about his graphic novel stuff - I never heard of V for Vendetta before that movie came out (I'm not a... ahem... comic book guy), but I loved the movie. Once I heard it was based on something that's been around for awhile, I knew there'd probably be some group out there spending all their energies telling everyone around them that they knew about it before anyone else and how it was so much better before. I wonder if in the history of man anybody ever heard one of these guys going on like that and actually stopped and said, "Really? You knew about it before everyone else? You used to read/watch/play this before everyone else knew it existed? Man, you are one cool dude. Now I wish I were you – 'cause wow... wow."

[jojojojo]

I suppose it is a matter of personal preference. I have found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with certain aspects of the game.

When I first started playing, there were very few newbies and lots of kind knowledgable players willing to give up their time to explain stuff. The community was friendlier, there was no divide between people, no intense arguing on the forums.

To an extent, the game has lost it's magic for me, but is that because I am no longer a wide-eyed newbie discovering stuff for the first time? Or, is it that solving puzzles used to be fun, not a testosterone filled race to get to the top? I don't want to be part of that race anymore.

I gave up solving cards straight away in wave 3. I have dozens of cards with solves ready to be imputted, but I just lack the enthusiasm to imput my solves as for me, they are now meaningless. I know that I have solved certain cards, why do I need to enter them onto the site?

I don't feel the need to prove myself to anyone, nor do I feel the need to race my friends to the top of the leaderboard. (I guess this may be a side effect of being aquainted with Mr Keers.) The leaderboard for me has become meaningless part of the game, and the cards are simply not that important anymore.

I will complete my set for season 1 as my OCD tendancies dictate that I MUST HAVE A COMPLETE SET. But when Season 2 comes along, I think I will just follow the story element and save myself some money on not buying cards.

I suppose that for me, the game hasn't jumped the shark, it's just changed into something different. I have become more immersed in the story and the world of Perplex City than the cards. Yes, the cards are nice and pretty, and yes, they are what initially sucked me in. But now, knowoing what we know about this other world, there are far more important things to consider in this game than a piece of printed cardboard.

[poozle]

Well I wasn't expecting such long answers so maybe I should add a bit to mine (and add some replies to other bits that have been said).

I remember the first time I found out about perplexcity, you can't really say I stumbled accross it anywhere except when a friend bought a copy of the latest firebox catalogue into school and was telling us about perplex city (he though it was a game ) which was when i started digging around it. I was so confused at that point that I didn't go any further, but I remained signed up for email alerts (my big mistake in the long run ).

Once I got an email saying the cards had been released I wasn't just pulled down the rabbit hole I was forcably dragged and once my cards had arrived just one cards forced me onto the forums (and into insanity) Elucidate. For anyone not arround during the solve of that I recomend you read the forum thread, it is truly a piece of art work and shows a lot about the community, but it was wha dragged me into the world, I started just lookng in that thread then moved onto the rest of the perplexcity forum. I never really had any help with things as a newbie though, although that may be because I joined at a time with very little background as the main story was just beginning.

I do remember the times when all silver were worth stupid amounts of money on ebay (arround £100 I think).

Jojojojo: With the card solves I solved a few at the very start of wave 4 during the ASIB event, but that was just for the fun of solving at the event, after that I've barely put more solves in, the only reason i want to solve is for the Leitmarks, NOT for the glory of being at the top, I couldn't care less about the leaderboard or a mention in the sentinel.

Also with buying cards, I will probably continue into season 2, but thats because I LOVE collecting things, just the way I am unfortunatley.

I still don't think the game has peaked, just evolved into a new, previously unseen, form and that it will continue to evolve as more and more people join.

[Mikeyj]

[GuyIncognito]

[UKver2.0]

Sorry about that GuyIncognito. I wasn't saying that I thought you were in that crowd at all (for this game). I was using this comment

[GuyIncognito]

I'm glad to see that we're on the same page now. And I also apologize if I have unjustifiedly reacted in a defensive way.

To put this straight, the comment you cited in the post above was just to express that I can understand if people are feeling that way. If you are passionate about something, it's easy to become possessive, I guess. My further comments were to express that I think that this is not a very productive and enjoyable attitude to take.
The way i see it, everybody can and should be encouraged to like/dislike everything for their own personal reasons. Nobody has any foundation for forcing their opinion on anybody else, least of all if it's about having a good time with something. If you're having fun, who cares if you are wrong or right or if you "get it"?

And like I said, I agree with you in that I sometimes feel that mentality here, too. (As some people have said, we're all "cliquish". ) And I actually think that it's detrimental to the fun of the game (not only for others, but also for yourself) if you expressively take that kind of attitude. (So I actually try to keep feelings of that sort to myself, if they do come up.) If something is special to you, you can still hold on to that, even if countless other people feel the same way for different reasons.

And to put all this into context again, of course PXC has become less intimate and less enigmatic, as to be accessible for many new people. But I guess there's lots of cool stuff to come...who knows what's still in store for us? Of course the end of the season can bring about an anti-climactic feeling (wrapping up all loose ends and everything), but I'm sure Mind Candy will reinvent PXC on a grander scale once that darn cube is found and season 2 comes around. (And as far as I'm concerned, I could easily take a few more months of season 1.)

Thanks, bye.

[BrianEnigma]

It jumped the shark when Scarlett got a MySpace account!!!1!!one!~!!eleventyone!!!

Okay, seriously: I don't find that it jumped the shark at all, and the way things are going, it feels like there will be many more seasons before any aquatic acrobatics occur (if indeed they occur at all.) I understand that things can sometimes feel a bit frustrating. There are points in the story that feel like they move at a glacial pace (Scarlett's travels, anyone?) On the flip side, there are points where everything speeds along, often accompanied by an online or offline event (SF Connection, the mines, the Ascendancy Point security system, etc.) Since we just had a big event, it doesn't surprise me that there is a bit of a lull right now. There is still stuff to do--figuring out the various markings on the cards, for instance--but there are no urgent and obvious actions to take right now and not a whole lot of info to piece together speculation any more meaningful than totally random guesswork.

I'd bet that if we gave it a few weeks, something big enough will happen that we'll forget that shark-jumping was even suggested.

[rose]

long timer views

[Loktera]

The game hasn't jumped the shark quite yet...

I mean, we are still all in one piece with out sanities mostly in check... Right?

Now, if Mind Candy somehow found a way to slowly and methodically kill off the players as they got closer to the cube... Then that might be putting on the water ski's and starting the boat.

*Goes back to his hole and hides from the helicopters.*

[duckiemonster]