unforum

[MConnalley]

What is abo talking about wanting a team name for rivalry...

[AshofPompei]

Re: What is abo talking about wanting a team name for rivalry...

[Shlonster]

kinda violates a basic theme of arg's... working together.

[Sugarfiend]

if we start this I'm gonna bail. Just to be honest and straight tot he point.

[thebruce]

Yes, no rivalries.

Unfiction won't participate. If people want to do that, they will have to go elsewhere. But not before we strongly discourage them from doing so =P for the sake of community

[KLind]

ABO did have a good note about people that opened the first server not doing anymore. I like that. Makes it fair to others like me.

[Phyltre]

[thebruce]

[Phyltre]

Kind of like participating in a race by pushing other people's cars?



I mean, if the rewards are the same, then of course it makes sense not to just hog five identical packages. But there's no indication each person should only unlock one.

[thebruce]

no, there's no rules or restrictions, sure... but this is where community comes in, and what we try to foster in the ARG genre. People are already complaining about the seeming 'exclusivity' of this reward system... which is why many, including some who have already got in, are suggesting allowing others to be the ones to unlock the servers and get swag... everyone can solve the puzzle, but it's only one 'click' that gets you free stuff. So why not give up that click for someone else? Just saying... it's a common issue in ARGs when free stuff is given out.

[FauxHammer]

If i can manage to get a key input without getting screwed by a birthday error, it will be my only one. I dont need 5 t-shirts, and even if the server 2 rewards are slightly different it's better for more people to get a chance to participate than it is for me to have 5 slightly different posters or shirts.

And honestly this isn't really "participation" as much as it is a swag grab.

I mean, its not like it's hard to enter a key. It isn't like you're driving out to a payphone, talking to an AI, and contributing to the story. You're just copying and pasting a string of numbers. The thing that makes this difficult is the pure luck of being there at your computer when it happens.

IMO the courteous thing to do is do it once, and then let others have their chance for a free shirt and poster. This doesn't mean you have to stop "playing" the "game" in the slightest. There's no need to be greedy.

[Phyltre]

I fully understand your logic. The thing is, the only--ONLY--reward thus far in the ARG has been the keys. Everything else becomes immediately available on Halo3.com. Trying to figure out the puzzles gives you nothing the Halo3 site doesn't. You're suggesting that people spend hours only trying to get to the keys, then not take one.

Sure, you could argue that just playing is the fun part, but here's the thing: everything that hasn't been on one of the servers has been completely useless except in relation to the keys. It's just been made-up paths that don't even jive with the Halo 3 universe well! So far we have SOTA, which has deadended with no Halo or ARG information. We have the Flood removal listings/phone thing, which has deadended with no Halo or ARG information. We have several AR posts on Bungie.net that, so far, have been useless. Unless you want the keys, none of this should matter to you because all of it has been totally contrived as a path to the keys. Not even contrived in an OOG way (obviously you could argue that the Halo universe itself is made up) but in an in-game way--conveniently named Flood Control specialists relevant to the Halo storyline? Right. So far the entire ARG is about unlocking the servers/ episodes, and you only do that by getting the keys. Otherwise the next day you can just check the server.

Like it or not, it's a race. People who don't want to win races don't compete in them, because that's what competing means--trying to win. I mean, Bungie could make it worth our while without the keys by dropping actual Halo universe information outside of the servers/episodes for us to figure out, but outside of possibly AR's posts, they haven't. Just think back to when AR started posting--we had great spec around here, lots of brainstorming, lots of possibly developing storylines. We were having fun trying to make the posts make sense, just because it was relevant to the Halo universe and ARG storyline, and there was a good chance we could figure out relevant things on our own. It was a creative thinking exercise.

But the servers/episodes have changed that. Thus far, all the information just spirals into the next unlockable server--then it's useless. Without the keys, even Halo fans wouldn't have a reason to play.

Fauxhammer is right, the ARG right now is just a swag-grab (although he/she's certainly going to disagree with my conclusion) without any other real benefits for participants spending hours trying to sniff out the next link to the next bounce control page. And, unfortunately, not entering a key--even if every single person reading this thread did it--would have zero net effect. As fast as the first server unlocked, the second unlocked quite a bit faster. All it takes is a single post to a forum or IRC, and word spreads to everyone looking at that time within five minutes. In fact it spreads to b.net, which means hundreds of people who aren't following the ARG at all see it in minutes...which is arguably worse than somebody who IS spending hours of their life paying attention to it getting more than one.

Tell you what. If the second package turns out like the first, I'll strongly consider giving it to someone else here for cost of shipping. I agree that that's totally fair. The only reason I wouldn't is if my girlfriend steals it, which, I have to admit, is possible because she is demanding to see the "Haylo Stuffs" I got in the mail already after she heard the shirt was too small for me. I think we know where that's heading.

[thebruce]

[MariusDarkwolf]

I kinda agree with thebruce here, but in some ways I also agree with where Phyltre is coming from. I work graveyard shift, so I'm never gonna have a chance to open a server, but I'm still here working the theory's and trying to help with the puzzles because it's fun. On the other hand, the swag would be great to get, and I keep feeling boned when another server unlocks while I was at work.

What we could do is those that are up for it, and end up opening multiple servers, share the swag with others that either are unable to (bday bug) or who can't for one reason or another.

[GravityWell]