unforum

[Pied Piper]

Thank you all

[Trace]

same thing goes for me, and I will make it my personal responsiblity to make the pms have to buy much extra strength pain relief for that type of splitting headache we just love to give em, *Especialy that transvestite foo
hope ot see you down the road in other games, but untill then, i will post all the funny shit with you in mind

[Pied Piper]

Thanks trace, but...

[Trace]

ooh no im not really going to go out of my way, its just what happens when pms act upity lol

[MannyReasons]

 Ignore this completely if you hate DC

[Wang Guantao]

Nice tirade =) (This is not a critiscism btw, i do enjoy a nice tirade once in a while).

I agree with most of your points about the game, but I will refrain from commenting on the personal parts of your message. I'm not going there =)

I guess I'll have to go back and look at the Dogma once more with this new updated information, and I totally called that composure was a code not a piece of music; why don't people listen to me? (maybe because I haven't actually lifted a finger to break said code yet, but thoughts involve "on the line"/ "of the line" dot and dashes for morse code)

I'm hanging in the lurking position for the moment, since my thesis is due in one month, and I don't have too much time and energy for breaking the puzzles and interacting with the characters, but in one months time when it's handed in, I'll definitely be back with a vengeance. Hope I find you somewhere in the interface by then.

/Wang

[Arkaham]

I'm going to break the statment on my signature a little tiny bit to say this

"Way to go Manny!"

There. I'm going back to slamming my head against the wall with Typo. Yes, I lost all my credits there, yes it's frustrating, but you know what? It's fun. That's why people go to casinos.

[imbri]

Nice post Manny. I mean that.

I think that you've put your finger right on the issue that many at unfiction have with Deus City (and other games as well). Deus City is not an ARG. It is an RPG with pervasive elements. That is not a bad thing. For many people it's something far better than an ARG. But for folks looking for an ARG, especially folks that are not into the roleplaying aspect, this is not the game for them.

Thanks for writing it all out - it'll probably help to excite some players and warn others away. Either way, it should make the playing experience better for all involved

[WolfHawk]

Sorry, not in to flame wars.

Personal attacks do nothing to forward the gaming experience.

I thought we were supposed to help each other with the puzzles, not keep solves to ourselves. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Thanks!

[notgordian]

imbri--you've hit upon a point of contention for this game.

Until a few days ago, I was convinced we were dealing with an ARG--and I think the PMs might have intended a game that reflects both of our definitions of that genre.

However, recent events--partially instigated by the PMs and partially spurred on by player actions--have moved this into the realm of something else. An RPG with a puzzle-based leveling system probably describes it, as you said.

I think it is possible to have an ARG with a high role-playing element (what I'd prefer to think of as "interaction", because the term "role-playing" has always made me leery). I think it's possible to play an ARG that uses factions--to lesser extents, it has occurred in I Love Bees and Lawn Games for Life, as well as many others I can't immediately and conclusively recall.

Thus, what probably serves as the defining factor here is transparency--are the users encouraged--not just allowed but encouraged--to share all of their information online? Until recently, I thought that was what was going on. Now, I'm not so sure.

In the beginning of the game, it clearly appeared to be an ARG. Puzzles drove the plot rather than just being an ancillary element--Brackin could not be saved until we cracked a puzzle. The current batch of puzzles, however, have no sense of urgency--you can solve them to "level up", but nothing more. We do not see the effects of our decisions to solve (or not to solve) puzzles. Since this has no bearing on plot, puzzles can be freely shared. However, I suspect people have been keeping correspondances secret for their personal game experience, limiting the collective knowledge. Which is perfectly acceptable.

What I find interesting about this is it looks like the game changed from an ARG to whatever it is now--there were signs this would happen towards the beginning, admittedly. But there was some imperceptable point of change.

[Phaedra]

[Trace]

 

[taureanfreak]

A bunch of Stuff

[notgordian]

Phaedra--one of the points I'm making is that until VERY recently (and I mean within the last week recently) the in-game factions didn't influence gameplay beyond which puzzles people tried to solve and who they tried to talk to. The reason this debate fizzled out the first time it came up here is because the PMs quickly converged player interests and eliminated any semblance of factions.

As far as I can tell (and I'm just one player here) actual instances of factions influencing what information is posted (with the exception of the Hack the Feed puzzle) just started. I agree: this probably no longer counts as an ARG. I agree: the PMs encouraged this change to happen. However, that switch only happened when the PMs started to encourage players to gather intelligence on other players and to keep secrets. What I see here is something that started as an ARG and transferred into something else by conscious effort of the PMs, possibly in reaction to expressed desires of many of the players.

If I'm beating a dead horse here, I'm sorry.

[Trace]

 TROUTED!!!