unforum

[Rekidk]

I enjoyed the ending to DoomSkull, where we, the players, were given the opportunity to download the information of one of the thirteen skulls to a disk and destroy it. It was a lot of fun taking part in that sort of interactive ending: it gave us a way to deal a "final blow" in a very personal way.

[konamouse]

I know I sound like a broken record, but Sammeeeees ending was very satisfying. We saved the world. But we had opportunity to continue interaction with our characters for a few more days, and given a gradual withdrawl from the Sammeeeees universe. It was very emotional for many of us - and we had a hard time letting go. But the PM (labfly) was very gentle and gave us closure....

She did the same thing in Sammeeeees II. And even with the deaths, it was so nice to know what happened to some of the characters from the first game - and that they were okay with the transition to the afterlife. She gave us a chance to say goodbye to those characters also.

The other thing that was good; we were in control of the end. We had the choice in how it played out (she told us afterwards she had stuff ready depending on which direction we took it). And we trusted her - she never let us down.

[Axon_Axoff]

I feel like Notes to Mary had the best conclusion I've seen in quite a while, even if I was just following along from afar.

[mapmaker]

[Euchre]

Being an oddball here in that I tend to be less interested in the conventional ARGs and more interested in those trying to extend or expand the genre of Chaotic Fiction, I have to say that none of these novel ventures has come to a good close. The closest thing to an ARG I followed was Ethan Haas, and it crashed and burned in stunning fashion that even Evel Knievel would have been jealous of. Cloverfield has been fading away as you might expect from an interactive viral campaign of it's type, but unfortunately it's 'players' (and others) won't let it die gracefully.

When I get to be involved in something that comes to a conclusive and satisfying end, I'll let you know.

[veebee]

Wow, what a response! Thank you guys!!

[krystyn]

curse you for mentioning chain factorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr










gah. addictive game. chain factor, i hate and love youuuuu.

[AidanHM]

 Best and worst ending...

[veebee]

Re: Best and worst ending...

[Euchre]

Re: Best and worst ending...

[Varin]

[Will 2.0]

Oh hell, now I have to go play more.

[Vecheeso]

can someone link to this 'chain factor' game i clearly missed out on? i wanna play flash games!

[notgordian]

www.chainfactor.com

Developed by area/code for the Numb3rs television show when they did an episode on ARGs called "Primacy".

[degravedi]

I took a look back through all of the ARG threads I've taken part in and have just now realised how many never had a successful conclusion -- either being abandoned by the PMs / imploding (so many of these that it's ridiculous!) or ending in a very apathetical "okay it ended" sort of way. The only ARG that I've actively taken part in and can consider as having a great ending is the newly concluded Dark Knight campaign (and talk about an ending!). And I know some people are probably going to say "Well, yeaaah. That was by 42E. They have a huge budget, of course it's going to have a great ending!" But I don't think that's all of it.

It seems to me that great endings would absolutely depend on who is PMing the game but don't necessessarily have to depend on the budget. Putting the puzzles aside, 42E games are so amazing because they have writers who really know how to tell a story and more specifically how to end one.

All entertainment mediums adhere to the same fundamentals to have a great story -- novels, movies, plays, games, and now ARGs/CF. There needs to be an interesting story that continues to build until its peak in the climax. (Some stories don't adhere to this of course, like those that reveal the climax at the very beginning and then you have to continue the story to find out what the heck happened. But those still have an ending climax in a way, when you finally find out what did lead up to it.) That's writing 101 and that's what seems to be the problem with many ARGs. Even if a story is interesting, if the reader/player/watcher's excitement level remains at a steady constant throughout (instead of building greater and greater) then the end will surely be viewed as disappointing or mediocre at best.

:annnd stops babbling now: