unforum

[rose]

What have you learned from playing ARGs?

[Phaedra]

I learned:

• To always know the location of the nearest payphone
  
• HTML
  
• Flash
  
• Cryptography
  
• Sound editing
  
• How to use IRC
  
• How to use a forum
  
• What a blog is
  
• Mad Google skilz
  
• How to use a wiki
  
• How to warwalk
  
• How to use IM programs
  
• A little Unix
  
• A lot of 1337
  
• Probably a college degree's worth (in a field that doesn't firmly exist yet!) about online communities
  
• A scary amount about traditional marketing
  
• A scarier amount about viral marketing
  
• Not to perpetrate a hoax, for such activities make the internets cranky, and they are bigger than you, smarter than you, and have infinitely more time on their hands than you do
  
• How to use the text feature on my cell phone
  
• Never to call your secret directory "secret"
  
• How to moderate a forum
  
• How to admin a forum
  
• Not to trust guys with too keen a love for canoes

And lots more, but good grief, that list is already long enough.

[konamouse]

*Always check the source
*Always look at the Whois
*So many different methods of coding secret messages
*Various code & decode sources online (I labeled them "Forensic Links")
*Always look at the first letter of every sentence if the letter has a tooc feel
*There is a uF person in almost every major city (if I'm on a layover)
*There is always someone on IRC who can answer a computer related question
*How to blog
*That Wikis exist (and somewhat how to edit them)
*How to upload YouTube (still behind on the moving making part)
*definitely mad Google skillz
*How to play Tombstone Poker
*Always answer a ringing payphone
*Document, document, document (take lots of pictures and screen caps -you never know what will be changed or lost to us)
*Question everything, but in a nice way
*That I can save the world

[RedHatty]

I HAVE LEARNED:

That there are a whole lot of great people out there & like Sean Stewart said, You have restored my faith in humanity

To trust that someone will help me understand how something is done (decoding, movie making, basic ARGing skills)

That I have a natural talent for decoding obscure languages - who would have guessed, since I'm half blind

MaD GooGle SkillZ

How to make a music video

That I can take live dictation (typos & all) better than I ever thought I could

About a whole lot of critters out there called "cryptids" that I never knew existed (or were thought to)

That some of the most horrible aspects of human history can be recalled through a game in such a way as to help us never forget the mistakes of the past, yet not in an offensive way

That there is way more to chat than A/S/L

That everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and that sometimes, I have to leave it up to other to do, because they are better at it than I am (this is a HUGE thing for me, as I am forced to supervise my employees from a distance for the past 6 months, and thanks to people here, I have become a better supervisor, my heartfelt thanks!)

That really cool swag can be found in some of the strangest places

That this genre is still in it's beginning and that many of the people I have met here are & will be/continue to be the movers and shakers that make the term ARG a household word in the next 10 yrs

BBCode

HTML (still have tons to learn)

What IRC is and how to use it (now, who wants to explain ICQ to me?)

That sometimes, it is a good thing that nothing new has happened

[vpisteve]

I have learned not to take rides with crazy taxi drivers.

[Phaedra]

[vpisteve]

The limo driver was a different guy. Not as crazy as the Taxi guy, if you can believe that.

[imbri]

Things I've learned from the other side of the curtain:

• how to work, effectively, with groups large and small from all over the world
  
• how to communicate, somewhat effectively, through text
  
• that online communities can be filled with wonderful people that will work together towards a common goal
  
• to appreciate our differences
  
• that we aren't all that different
  
• that games can make people think and feel in ways that I never thought a game could
  
• that I can make people think and feel in ways that I never thought that I could
  
• that mistakes, no matter how tragic they seem at the time, can always be fixed and sometimes the players will fix them for you
  
• to roll with the punches
  
• that together we can do so much more than we could do alone
  

[EarlyWyrm]

You mean there's LEARNING involved!?

[Gupfee]

I've learned to love trout.

I've learned that you can never spend too much time sitting in front of a computer when something interesting is going on in chat.

I've learned that many of you live much too far away for my liking.

I've learned that I truly suck at solving puzzles.

I've learned that it doesn't matter if I suck at solving puzzles because I can contribute in other ways.

I've learned what being part of a community means, and how important connection is.

[thebruce]

To focus on the serious/practical general aspects, I've learned:

• that respect goes very far - learning how to live with and respect people with different opinions and beliefs, and finding people who can do the same with mine - to respect, and be respected
  
• faith in the online community - as mentioned earlier, this forum and community is leagues above the rest (from my experience also) in intelligence, maturity, organization... and yet it's amazingly fun, addictive, and mind-expanding
  
• that good games will encourage you to try, or more commonly, learn new things
  
• that better games will challenge how you live your life, for the better
  
• that's it's possible to have stirring debates, and at worst still walk away happy on both sides, shaking virtual hands
  
• that so many seemingly simple points of enjoyment, light hearted game elements, tend to spark a discussion or reflection about deeper aspects of life and/or morality
  
• no matter where you go, people are the same, and whether you live a minute away or a day away, everyone has the potential to maintain the same level of friendship
  
• a lot about marketing, branding, media
  
• more practically - how to travel on my own (relatively) and be more independent =) (and what it's like to plan and travel by train)
  
• more about modding forums, and that phpBB seems to be most widely accepted
  
• how to setup and manage multiple wikis and websites, and that mediawiki seems to be most widely accepted
  
• BBcode, wikitext and more about PHP
  
• cryptography methods, and that unique elements and methodologies help make good cryptography
  
• always look for a signal in the noise, and that discernment is equally as important
  
• that 'games' can be mature in the 'grown up' sense, not just for children or the immature gamer-geek type demographic
  
• that 'game' has such a wide meaning depending on context
  
• that a 'game' can be used to bring people together and forge relationships who aren't in the same room, or country - via any medium
  
• how to balance time (though not necessarily productively)
  
• how to waste time
  
• how to procrastinate, and how to make lists of things that need to be done
  
• to appreciate community and differences, even in the most difficult and stressful of situations
  
• that a strong community is an enormously powerful thing
  
• that I'm wordy far too often, and that half my wordiness is noise that can be filtered down
  
• to appreciate those that put up with me =)
  
• what a 'meme' is, and that this thread bears a striking resemblance =)

* and that I use smileys all too often when I write =P

[catherwood]

...to always look for the fine print ;)

[djsampson]

I just learned what Unfettered means!

[Axys Denyed]

I've learned that the world is not the mundane place I thought it was (outside of Ren Faire).

I've learned that there are indeed intelligent people out there and they're grouping together.

I've learned that there are people online who do use good grammar.

I've learned a lot about Cryptography (especially after just reading the Cryptonomicon).

I've found some good book suggestions (see previous).

I've learned that we can be simultaneously fast at solving the hard things and oblivious at the simple things.

Overall, I've learned that this is a great community and I'm glad I found it

[Phaedra]