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 Forum index » Meta » General META Discussion
ARGdb help needed
Moderators: imbri, ndemeter
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imbriModerator
Entrenched


Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		ARGdb help needed
Seriously, we really really really need your help!
As you hopefully know, ARGdb is just about ready to go public. But it needs a bit of work that *you* can help with. Best of all, all contributors will get mention on a special page for those that helped to get ARGdb off the ground and (I haven't talked to Ben about this yet, so let's keep it a surprise for now Wink) a little something extra on their ARGdb page.

1) Research work
The database is woefully out of date – the last games are from 2004! I've gotten Catherwood's big list of games and while that's a fantastic help, it's missing a lot of information such as start and end dates or the list of credits (the credits list is where you PM folk can really come in handy!). This is not a task for just one or two people, if a lot of us pitch in, it will go so much faster. Details are on the wiki page.


2) Writing work
Each game needs a bit of text with it. This is not as high a priority as the basic information. But, eventually each game will have both a short About (approx 100 words that hits on the notable aspects of a game) and a longer Game description (approx 3-4 paragraphs) that should focus more on the plot but could further discuss game play elements.

An example of the short About would be something like this for Push, NV:

Quote:
Push, NV ran alongside the failed ABC (US) television show. The internet portion was extensive for its time with a number of websites for businesses and (unmentioned on the tv portion) characters from the fictional city. Sponsors extended that fictional reality by including references to the city on their own websites. Despite a million dollar prize and an avid online fan base, the show failed to get the necessary viewers and the project ended mid-season with a disappointing conclusion and a "fastest fingers" telephone puzzle during Monday Night Football to determine a winner.


The longer description would go in to the show plot and how that spread online through the Push Times and other sites.

Obviously we want this for every game. In the future this will be a manageable task for the ARGdb admins (either on own or by soliciting write-ups from more avid players) which is why the site isn't set up for this sort of collaboration. Now, however, we have years of history to catch up on. Obviously, we don't expect it all immediately, but the more people that get involved in doing it the quicker it will go. So, if you want to stretch your writing muscle, please feel free to do so! You can add it to the ARGdb wiki.


3) Beta Testers
We've had a few but can definitely use more. If you're interested in seeing what argdb has to offer and willing to try to break things, please head over to ARGdb and sign up as a beta tester. We'll get you in there as soon as we can.

Early reports include
* "OMG! I LOVE THIS!"
* "I am stunned by ARGdb. Stunned!"
* "You weren't kidding. This is amazing."
* "I can't stop clicking!"

And that's with the site not even coming close to its potential. Imagine what people will be saying after you've helped it get there!

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:56 pm
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konamouse
Official uF Dietitian


Joined: 02 Dec 2002
Posts: 8010
Location: My own alternate reality

 		I've played around in the place for a couple of days. Set up doesn't work right for me. I'm running IE6. Icons on the left side of the page are too far to the left (only partially visible, no matter how wide I move my window).

I have some of the game logos. I'd love to see recognizable icons instead of the default if that is possible.

I'm not a good writer (from scratch) but I'm a great editor. Give me something written and I'll make it beautiful.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:13 am
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imbriModerator
Entrenched


Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland
konamouse wrote:
I've played around in the place for a couple of days. Set up doesn't work right for me. I'm running IE6. Icons on the left side of the page are too far to the left (only partially visible, no matter how wide I move my window).


Yeah. That's a bad problem that will hopefully be fixed soon. If you (or anyone) run across any other problems - please post them in the ARGdb forums so that Ben and I know where to find them. You can also add any feature requests there and ask any questions that you may have.

Konamouse wrote:
I have some of the game logos. I'd love to see recognizable icons instead of the default if that is possible.


Ooo I forgot to add that to the needs. that's definitely something I'd love to have Smile If you could email them to me, that would be fantastic!

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:44 am
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October
Unfettered


Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 362
Location: Houston, Texas, USA

 		Hi, Imbri, and all! I made an account at the wiki and am willing/able to help. In regards to researching games/writing synopses, do you want us to start at the top of the list, or are there particular areas you want covered first?

Also, for the ARGdb beta testing, I went to the sign-up page. It asked for a description of beta testing skills. I hope I don't make myself sound too woefully ignorant when I ask... what does that mean? Can I sign up as a beta tester for ARGdb if I've never done beta testing before? Smile

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:31 pm
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imbriModerator
Entrenched


Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		Yep. No skills required. In fact, some of the best beta testers are rather internet clueless because they'll help us figure out if the interface is user friendly or not. But if you are super hax0r, we can use that to make sure that our information is safe from prying eyes.

As far as games to start with, it's probably best to start with games you've played. Those are the important ones, right Wink But really, any order is fine. If you want, you don't even have to finish a whole game before moving on to the next - you could just gather all the start and end dates for all the games that begin with L if you want.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:42 pm
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Giskard
Sassypants


Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 2066
Location: Chicago

 		Re: ARGdb help needed
Seriously, we really really really need your help!
imbri wrote:
Early reports include
* "OMG! I LOVE THIS!"
* "I am stunned by ARGdb. Stunned!"
* "You weren't kidding. This is amazing."
* "I can't stop clicking!"


I think I used all of those at least once in relation to ARGdb in the past few weeks Smile

I've been beta-testing for a while now, and I love it... and as I have mentioned before, I'm am very much willing to help out on all other aspects of ARGdb you need help on, especially the research work and related maintenance of content. My writing isn't the greatest there is, but I guess I could help out with that as well... maybe I can write stuff for Kona to review Smile
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:29 pm
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October
Unfettered


Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 362
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
imbri wrote:
As far as games to start with, it's probably best to start with games you've played.


Unfortunately, I'm a newly minted ARGer (maybe shiny?) so I don't have much gameplay experience. However, I do have excellent research and summarizing skills!

In the meantime, I'll stick to copyediting and then pick up summarizing as I get more playing experience. I can do some fact-gathering, also - I know there will always be people (like Konamouse!) to check my facts and let me know if I accidently put in wrong info. Smile

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:53 pm
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Axys Denyed
Unfettered


Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 456
Location: Houston, TX, USA

 		I've just registered for the wiki. I'm not that good at writing, but I'll take a look at everything and if there's anything I'll contribute I will
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:38 am
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imbriModerator
Entrenched


Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		woo! that'd be great.

There's a lot of non-writing tasks that need to be done. We need to get all the dates, how the game ended, and who made them. Most of that stuff can be found by browsing the archives here at unfiction.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:54 am
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Mikeyj
Unfictologist


Joined: 18 Oct 2004
Posts: 1847
Location: London

 		Quick question,

should pre-games be treated as separate ARGs? I was just having a go at Perplex City when I spotted a Project Syzygy section, would they be worth handling as one?
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:36 am
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imbriModerator
Entrenched


Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		That's a good question, really.

I think that it should be handled separately. After all, it wasn't really a part of Perplex City, season 1. And, we'll keep the PXC seasons separate. I wonder if there will be 'seasons' to Perplex City Stories - do you know?

You're more familiar with Perplex City - what are your thoughts on it?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:56 pm
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Mikeyj
Unfictologist


Joined: 18 Oct 2004
Posts: 1847
Location: London

 		I think that they're intending to rival Agatha Christie in terms of run-time so separate seasons makes sense to me! They're putting together an ARG delivery system, (erm ARG 2.0 was a term I came across somewhere) so I'm sure it'll be used to churn out plenty more PXC Smile
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 6:37 am
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