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[PinkCloud]

ARG_research: share your experiences!

[addlepated]

Re: ARG_research: Charlotte is becoming real

[PinkCloud]

Re: ARG_research: Charlotte is becoming real

[addlepated]

Re: ARG_research: Charlotte is becoming real

[PinkCloud]

Re: ARG_research: Charlotte is becoming real

[jfpickard]

I'm not sure how useful this will be, but [url="http://coralcross.org/"]Coral Cross[/url] seems like something you might want to monitoring. Reality and fiction colliding in interesting and peculiar ways.

[PostLarval]

Over the years, as a player, one of the most important factors I've found in determining where to draw the line between fiction and reality is to first determine the competence of the Puppetmasters. Assuming they stick to a TINAG mantra, if those behind the curtain are competent and careful, the line is so blurred that everything seems seamless. In my opinion these are the best kind of games, though the way players react to them tends to depend on their ARG experience.

Often when new players arrive on the scene they can be a little too enthusiastic, following every tangential link... innocent and unsuspecting folks end up with kids crawling around their lawns late at night and voicemails full of (seemingly insane) messages. This especially happens when a game pops up and draws in a large, entirely new audience (TIMM comes to mind). However it's these folks who seem to get the greatest thrill out of playing.

At the other end of the spectrum, more experienced players can sometimes be too cautious, not wanting to post phone numbers or addresses or anything that might lead to a swarm of people showing up at some stranger's doorstep. Generally because they've witnessed this with previous bad PMing. So for these people, truly blurring reality can lead to lines of questioning that actually detract from the immersiveness.

As I said, for me, the trick is to determine as quickly as possible if the PMs know WTF they're doing. If I trust that they do, I'm willing to stop looking for the blurry line and throw myself at every puzzle wholeheartedly.

[PostLarval]

[PinkCloud]

[PinkCloud]

Thanks very much for your in-depth input, PL. I welcome any kind of thought on that wider subject, not just answers to my questions.

[PostLarval]

[RemixFiction]

PostLarval - do you have a blog somewhere?

[PinkCloud]

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[BubbleBoy]

I believe you are delving more into a players psychology then the game itself.

There is definitely a difference in how new and old players will approach a game. Once a possible trailhead has been located old players will tend to search IPs, whois, reverse IPs, source codes, etc. for clues, being careful and knowing what to post and what to keep private (phone numbers in whois) until they are "given the word" to release the information too the public via game interaction.

New players will tend to steer more towards the obvious things like e-mailing, commenting on blogs, etc. - things that are more apt to get an immediate response. They will do this mainly because these are things that are more familiar too them. There really is not too much danger in releasing the information that is gathered from these conquests.

When you get into "what is real and what is not", you are dealing with both the ability for the PMs to tell both new and old players alike that "yes, this is a game" and for the players themselves to be able to tell themselves.

I would compare it too, say, people who are really into RPGs (Role Playing Games). You know, the ones that dress up and act out the roles for which they are assigned. Do they know that it's not real? Do they know that they are pretending? Or have they been doing this for so long that their fiction world has begun to blur itself into their reality?

Most people would probably say that those who can not are pretty sheltered, reclusive personalities and thus have a difficult time letting go of a personal connection, possibly even resulting in grief like symptoms of loss.

Granted we will have our favorite characters, but it is those who have detachment problems that will have a harder time determining the difference between reality and fantasy solely based on their need for companionship, whether real or unreal.

And with these personalities, do we ask the PMs to know how to control them or the many possible situations that can arise from these personalities being involved in the game? Probably not.

On one hand the PMs have to have some accountability in how real they make their game. Knowing that these personalities exist would probably cause one to ensure that their game isn't TOO real. On the other hand, however, we, as players, are also responsible for our own actions.

[PostLarval]