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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » Old News & Rumors
[TRAILHEAD?] The Five Points Have Been Connected
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jeremy_mccurdy
Boot

Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 19

 		It seems Zeus is implying that Mike purposely leaked his information to draw Robert out. Odd.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:54 pm
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TaffMaster
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 		Updated again Smile

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:15 pm
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jeremy_mccurdy
Boot

Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 19

 		/\Edit: Thanks, I provided the link.... Er, even though it seem it's just me here now. Sad
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2413957&perpage=40&pagenumber=13

There have been a number of developments over at SA, instead of quoting all those chat logs, I'll just offer up the link.

It appears now that HeyZeus is trying to rally people to Mike's side in order to stop Robert, Robert is sort of doing the same. Apparently Robert is also in flight towards Kansas right now to stop the summoning. Zeus seems pretty militant in his stance against Robert, basically you're either with him or against him.

So what side will people choose?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:29 pm
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Phaedra
Lurker v2.0


Joined: 21 Sep 2004
Posts: 4033
Location: Here, obviously
Mr. Mysterious wrote:
Mike was using me as a Gopher while he sat back and pulled plot lines out of his ass. How would you feel if every day you had to take care of your little brother running around knocking stuff off the shelves for 18 hours a day. I've wanted to quit for a while but I was getting anywhere form 30 to 40 emails a day asking me for info or telling me the new updates were in. I couldn't just walk away when I had so many people counting on me to support this game that I had gotten them into.


I'm sorry you are feeling burnt out, and I'm not sure whether it applies here, but I would like to take this moment to remind newcomers to Unfiction that the Terms of Service prohibit individuals working behind the scenes on ARGs or ARG-like games from posting in threads related to their game. Thanks for your cooperation.
_________________
Voted Most Likely to Thread-Jack and Most Patient Explainer in the ILoveBees Awards.

World Champion: Cruel 2B Kind

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:14 pm
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jeremy_mccurdy
Boot

Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 19

 		I don't think it really applies to him, he wasn't running the show, he just got a little caught up in investigating and playing is all.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:45 pm
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October
Unfettered


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

 		Unless I'm reading the terms of service wrongly (and that's possible), it does apply. If Mr. Mysterious was working as a "gopher" for the PM or writer or anyone who is involved in the creation of this game/plotline, he is prohibited to post in this game thread, according to the terms of service, specifically:
Quote:
Users who are directly involved in the creation or maintenance of any Alternate Reality Game (whether in the role of Puppetmaster or in a Behind-The-Scenes position) are welcome to post as themselves in appropriate context, but not within a forum thread or section in which their game is being discussed. The only exception to this rule is when the game has reached a finite conclusion or ending, where people involved directly with the game are then welcome to discuss their game openly.

Mr. Mysterious did say he began exchanging out-of-game emails with the PM about upcoming plot-points, which took him out of the realm of "player". He also said "Mike" sent him out to get people excited about the game, which is a promotional role.

It's great that he's so enthusiastic about promoting a game that he likes, but the forum rules do have a purpose - to make sure that the players can trust that they're working to problem-solve with other players who don't have outside knowledge of the game. There's a nice discussion about this issue if you're interested, located here.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:21 pm
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jeremy_mccurdy
Boot

Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 19

 		Okay, sorry I misinterpreted the terms of service. The rule certainly makes sense, a puppet master can't be a puppet as well after all.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:56 pm
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Starblind
Boot


Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 58
October wrote:
Mr. Mysterious did say he began exchanging out-of-game emails with the PM about upcoming plot-points, which took him out of the realm of "player". He also said "Mike" sent him out to get people excited about the game, which is a promotional role.


I'm confused as heck. I thought Mr. Mysterious said that Mike never broke character with him, and that's why Mr. Mysterious was so pissed off?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:05 pm
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Mr. Mysterious
Boot


Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 40
Location: Florence Mass

 		 The game is over!
You can now talk freely.
Quote:
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Das Ende

Explanation

This was not quite an ARG. It was more of an quasi-interactive story that you all engaged in. It was intended to be an ARG, but I sort of gave the game a premature launch, before I could even finish planning things out.

All I had planned at the story's launch was that our character, Mike, went on a killing spree after he murdered his friend. I had never intended to make an evil presense to be a part of the story at all. In fact, I had nothing planned at all after Mike settled down with Tina.

The way the story progressed was by absorbing theories. After I created the story's base, I decided to try to quietly let people in on the story. I spidered along through my friend list and my friends' friends, and sent the message (The Five Points Have Been Connected) to random people.

Then, I had another idea. The SomethingAwful goons. They seemed to quite enjoy the Wyoming Incident ARG, as did I. They're also one of the biggest groups of people playing Year Zero, as well. I figure they'd enjoy another little game to pass the time. I found the thread where goons posted links to their MySpace pages.

Jackpot.

I sent the message to a few pages worth of MySpaces. A lot of people went and checked Mike's profile (I had been using a tracker to check on this). Only one person cared enough about the message to check Mike's blogs, and read back far enough to see what had been going on. Luckily, he made the GBS thread about the game.

This is where the absorbing of theories took place. The goons were the only ones who were really playing the game, aside from a few people from my friend list who only showed very minor interest in following along.

Taking note of the Wyoming Incident, I decided to leave room for changes in the story at any time, by letting the followers develop theories and ideas which gave me ideas on where to run with the game. This is how "EvilMike", for lack of a better term, came into play.

Characters

Mike was, of course, the main character in this story. There were also Mike's friends, listed in the first few blog entires, and then in some of the later ones. Aside from James, they all were very minor characters.

Now, here's where some interesting events take place. HeyZeus, for example. I still have no idea who he really is. My guess is that he's a goon. I never asked, as it wasn't very important to me. He kind of forced his way into the story, and I must say, he made things work out pretty well. Same goes for Robert and his characters. None of these people were ever intended to be a part of the story, but made great additions.

Personally, I think that the best part of their interaction was the fact that not a word was spoken to anybody about it until near the end of the game. I had never spoken to Robert or Zeus until just a week or two ago, and from what I've gathered, they hadn't spoken to eachother at all, either. This was what I loved about the game, was the fact that we all were able to take the story into a very entertaining direction with zero organization and communication.

To you guys who added yourselves to the story, I tip my hat to thee. You guys did a very good job at taking my hackjob story and adding some depth to it. I have a special note for you guys later on in this post.

Videos

After playing the Wyoming Incident intensely (I mean, I actually sat in a corner of my room, in the dark, taking part in the Summoning of an Aspect of Paranoia), I quickly realized that to kick things up in this game was to add another medium to the story. Like most ARGs and interactive stories, there isn't just one medium. So far, I had only had the MySpace blogs. So, I decided to bust out the cameraphone and take some videos, and here I will explain them.

The first video was of me violently shaking a baby doll and then throwing it against a wall. It was one of my baby sister's dolls. The room was her playroom.

The second video happened to churn up quite a bit of discussion. The one with the ceiling fan and the mystery painting. The ceiling fan was... Well... A celing fan, and nothing more. The mystery painting, which was mistaken for a crazy old man, a fire, a beach, and everything in between, was actually a pencil drawing of an onion I did in 7th grade. My art teacher liked it so much that she had it framed for me.

The rest of the videos were of our myster man, Harry Grey, walking around, and occasionally saying something. Those were just me walking around the neighborhood.

The police interaction was also just entirely coincidence. The siren was an ambulance going by, and the cop car was at the pizza place for lunch. Both times I had started recording before I made the discovery of the fuzz being present. I just got really lucky.

Future

I'm working on another ARG. A real ARG this time, and not just an interactive story. I've got (what I feel to be) a great story going, and I see a lot of potential with this one. Depending on how I feel about this one, I might even shell out some cash for webhosting, or flash drives, or something else. All depends on if I feel that this one will be worth it (and by the way things are looking right now, it very well might be worth it).

I assure you that this ARG that I'm currently working on will be much better than Five Points. Five Points is to New ARG as TI-83 Calculator is to Beowulf Cluster.

I promise you, it will be much better.

I expect to launch the new ARG later on this year. Probably around Fall or Winter. All depends on how fast I can lay out my ideas.

I mentioned earlier that I have a message for the extra characters in this story. If you're interested in helping out with my new ARG, please contact me (mikedmcgeeSPLATgmail.com). Since I never got the identities of those behind the extra characters, I'll have to make you go through a quick procedure to verify that it's actually you. This is for two reasons.

1) I know that you guys are good at keeping secrets, so I can already trust you.

2) To keep impostors from bothering with getting in on this one.

Identity

I'm not going to reveal who I am. I assume that the other characters are going to do the same. This is for a few reasons.

First off, I don't want fingers pointed at me automatically when the next game is launched. When the proof is out there that there is a puppet master and that it's all a game, interest suddenly drops in playing. It's like when you play Clue, and somebody reveals the answer to you before you even roll the dice (I don't even know if Clue uses dice, I've never actually played). Do you want to continue playing? Of course not, because the illusion has been shattered.

Second, if my identity is revealed, I'll automatically have people asking me if they can get in on the game. The answer will always be "no", so even if you do find out, don't bother to ask.

Third, I've never been good at accepting compliments, so if they're not directly addressed to me, then I don't have to.

Conclusion

I know that there are surely questions that I've left unanswered. If you have any questions, please ask them here. As well as any comments, critique, or suggestions. I've done a lot of gathering as far as people's reactions to certain events, but I'd like to know more, so that the next game is more of a success than this one.

Also, please enjoy this:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7BW3KMV7

I'd like to thank the goons for making this story as much of a success as it turned out to be. If it weren't for your continued interest, this wouldn't have taken off at all. Thank you for not making this as big as it was. I hope you guys will find and take part in the next big adventure.



Five Points Puppet Master signing off.

11:36 PM


Hooray! Although he doesn't give me direct credit, I'm going to take it anyway because I'm conceited Very Happy

Some final answers. "The Five Points" is the name Mike wants to call this ARG. EvilMike and EvilHeyzeus are their evil others "official" names. (I wish I came up with something more creative like Benry, but whatever.)
Mike, Robert and Heyzeus really were three different people who never talked to each other directly. My interference and over analyzing ways pulled these people together to form the twisting story we have today. To everyone who played along: We all thank you for your efforts. To those who were nothing but problems: Thank you for letting me bang your mom. Til' we meet again in this crazy internet! Mr. E signing off. And as always, Namaste, and good hunting.

Edit: Starblind did a lot for this ARG so I must give him credit. Also Taffmaster, D14BL0, Bad Graphics Ghost, and especially Unterdude for introducing us all to Mike. Even Mike gives props to us all. Post your own feedback on his last blog to let him know what you think about his story and any problems that arose for you. Thank you for playing and Namaste x2.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:57 am
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Mike McGee
Guest


 		I'd like to thank you guys for your help in spreading the word about the game and playing along. I hope that you guys will be taking part in my next ARG, coming later this year (hopefully).

Also, please leave feedback on the last blog entry. You guys play more ARGs than I do, so any feedback from you guys would be greatly appreciated.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 4:25 pm
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