unforum

[natas]

[quote="Fishjp"]
ELLIE:

[LordIllidan]

[pancito]

Why not just take them all down?
Erika's blog, Geocaching, and FCD still exist.

[Fishjp]

I just sent Ellie an IN Game email stating I had noticed her website was down and asking if everything was alright. I figure that should give the PM a chance to explain this in game or come out from the curtain and let us know its over.

[LordIllidan]

[kosmopol]

I've written to Erika and - encrypted with enigma - to KSW. No response...

I hope, with our PM is everything OK.

[LordIllidan]

:/ Nothing happened today?

If nothing happens tomorrow, I'm going to try contacting the email he used for the post-game Q&A last time and ask if everything is still good on his side.

Speaking of Con 08... Yori Tanaka officially vanished from my "frequently contacted" list on gmail a few hours ago. 'Tis a sad day.

A moment of silence, if you'd please.

[kosmopol]

Nothing...

Just wanted to bump this thread and to show, that I open it frequently...

"The whole world collapses" is the best description of my RL-ARG-feeling.

[pancito]

Consider this entire post as meta... The nature of ARGs, I think, depends to an extent on the players not knowing for sure what is in game and what isn't. Sometimes it's easy to make the differentiation. We look at a website, its host, even do a whois on it to see when it went up, and so on. We are frequently able to tell whether a given piece of information is IG, OOG, or background, but not always. There are a lot of implicit questions and knowledge in this process. Is it reasonable to assume that the ARG hasn't been in planning for three months? Six? A year? Is this bit of information useful or merely interesting, and if useful, in what way. So, for instance, where does info on Ilya Muromets as a Russian folk hero fit? This is part of what makes ARGs interesting as an art form.

Another version of this is to provide information that's masked by the sheer volume of research necessary. The Final State is currently looking for a Marcus Lee on the social network sites. There are five hundred of Marcus Lees on facebook alone. This is tedious, but acceptable, I think, esp. if there is a chance for the players to narrow the parameters in other ways, such as contact with IG characters. (There's a P.I. in that game who may prove useful).

In our particular dilemma there is another version of this uncertainty. Taking these three websites down could certainly be seen as being IG. KSW got to Ellie & Tyler and decided their own was too exposing, for instance. It could also be seen as a sort of meta-message equivalent to "Ignore that crap. Here's where you need to be focusing." What makes this different is that we have no way to narrow our search parameters or to reach a reasonable decision. Or rather our attempts to do so have fallen on deaf ears. Still, we can't unequivocally say, "This game is dead."

All this is preface to three points. First, this is a well concieved game with a full background and lots of ways to read the information. It's dense in the best sense. Comments from those who played Con08 lead me to believe this is in keeping with this PM's way of working. This makes an accurate read on what is happening even more difficult I think. Second, we have a lot invested in this game, emotionally and otherwise. Not as much as the PM, perhaps, but a lot .(And collectively, probably more). Third, I think there is an ethical issue here, which to me is the most important.

There are things that players shouldn't do. I was somewhat in violation of player ethics by brute-forcing the enigma rotors. In my defense I'll say that I knew the answer was in the Morse since Erika had hinted at it and the Morse was obviously three characters. A well designed game will allow players more than one way to get at crucial information, and that was true in this case. The solution was fairly early in the solution set. If the rotor solution had been III, II, V, I probably would have given up before I had found it and waited for Toasty to show up. There are things PMs shouldn't do, such as insult players, or make puzzles insoluable. There are things both groups should do which center on good faith efforts and help when those don't work. Traditionally and strategically PMs should stay behind the curtain, and players shouldn't Toto. But there are exceptions.

I think that there are times when both players and PMs are justified in sliding the curtain aside, even if only momentarily and as a last resort. I think we have reached that point. We have exhausted alternate routes of getting information. We are genuinely concerned about the PMs well being. I think I can safely say that while all of us would feel disappointed to learn that VITD needed to be canceled or put on hiatus we would be understanding of the necessity. RL has to take precedence over AR. Lift the curtain.

Thanks,
steve

[LordIllidan]

[pancito]

[kosmopol]

@pancito,

awesome summarizing of our meta-crisis.

I think sometimes, perhaps it was false and too personally for me write for Erika the story of her reality. I mean, what about a distance between a player and character? Or player and PM (in meta)? Do we have the fourth wall (like in classic theaters), can we entry the alternate reality and make there our own rules?

I mean, it is really cool feeling to build a part of alternate reality without communication with its PM. But whether it's productive for the game? What if, e.g. Hans was thought and concepted in another way? What if my intesive contact with Erika broke that subtle boundary? What if we irritated our PMs and they were demotivated to continue?

Writing this down I have to confess, this kind of gaming (hyper-personally and plot-interactive) is really cool way, and I love our PM(s) for it (like it was in Con08). And I hope, this pause is also a part of ARG (like in Con08 was the "end" of the IG-ARG even the beginning of really ARG).

Anyway, I hope to get clearance about the situation soon, because VITD is at the moment - for me personally - the most important ARG at Unfiction (even standing before such great ARGs like Lost Ring, Aladygma, Cloverfield[Sword] and Norway Goblin). Because of it's charisma and creativity.

[pancito]

@ kosmopol>>
I agree with everything you say about how involving the game is. If I didn't feel that way I wouldn't be going to such lengths to justify lifting the curtain. I want to maintain a certain amount of respect for the work the PMs have put into this.

I think one of the things that make ARGs such a pleasant medium is the role-play aspect. It isn't something I do a lot of (I'm not really into all the social networking sites), but when I do I enjoy it. I think you are perfectly justified in taking the Hans character in any direction you see fit...he's your character, after all. If the PM wants to push you in a certain direction, that's fine too, but you were encouraged to be Erika's friend and to feel protective towards her. ("You're the only one I know who understands me... older generation..." etc.) In fact, we are encouraged, in most Args anyway, to come on stage, just not to go backstage. That's the difference between IG and meta conversations. And finally, I agree with you that this is a good one. Dense, well crafted, role-play opportunities, engaging story. What's not to like?

[natas]

WTF?

[kosmopol]

Greetings, natas!

I hope it isn't over, I hope, it's kinda intentional pause or something like that. Don't give up!