unforum

[kosmopol]

I like this thread. Honestly. Even if I don't really get the whole story of the disappeared Trailhead, here are things said I wanted to hear and discuss for years. So even if at this moment the ARG is collapsed (perhaps), this actual thread is worth of it!

[Pixiestix]

And here we are, yet again, with a game that broke TOS at unfiction. You have some people claiming it was edgy and genre rule breaking - got news for you, it isn't. it is just UNFICTION rule breaking. The genre is MUCH larger than UF, which is just a message board where SOME players hang out.

There is a huge difference between breaking the TOS at a community site and breaking the 4th wall of a game. And even if this was a genre in and of itself, "edgy" doesn't mean doing what tons of PMs before you have tried {and failed} at doing.

I'm far too lazy of a person to link you to the rather large amount of conversations about why Unfiction is out of game, but i assure you... this has been discussed to death. Can someone else be the LINK faerie here?

ETA: ndemeter below links to maybe the most recent, and heated, conversation on the topic. I also found two more links in the meta forums that touch on the topic:

In-Game Characters Referencing unFiction
Don't Pee in the Pool

There are a ton more if you search out games that have emploded... Some of them emploded because the PMs broke TOS here and then actually BLAMED the players.

[ndemeter]

/semi-mod post

This thread was originally placed here in the N&R area to let everyone know what happened to the 'I'm Sorry' game. Yes, it generates a lot of stimulating conversation but it clearly now belongs to the Meta area. Depending on the traffic I will most likely move it there soon but will leave a pointer here. Just for your FYI.

Also, here is the discussion regarding matters like these before:

http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27581

Happy reading!

[Wulf74]

I find it kind of funny, that now that the game is over - that there seems to be much more interest and discussion on it. During our month-long.. headache? - it was mentioned a few times that there didn't seem to be much interest - especially when the game started off with a dead-drop, and then a mailed package.

To put my 2cents in - I agree with the line of thought that PM's shouldn't be breaking the TOS. It's there for a reason, and it works. It doesn't limit the game in anyway - it makes it easier. As far as them reading the forums - it helps the PM's recognize what is going on without directly interfering. They can decide when a cluebat is necessary - and sometimes, even integrate funny little comments from the forums, into the game. But I definitely think there shouldn't be any direct communication via the forums. [/soapbox]

[Rogi Ocnorb]

That's not uncommon, Wulf.

There's an almost primal drive in us to address a wrong we feel that has been committed.
Whether the new posters are:

a) Trying to educate in order to prevent future occurrences
b) People who are looking for closure from earlier, like, situation(s)/implosion(s)
c) Just griefers who have to pile-on when this kind of thing happens

it's all good stuff to get out and make sure we're all in the same boat, rowing in the same direction.

[addlepated]

You know, I followed along for a while, but then I got turned off because people were reluctant to post important information on UF because they thought it would be used against them by game characters. That right there seemed totally counterproductive for a game like this, to wit: only a few people were in IM or email contact with the game characters, and the rest of the players were following along vicariously. To make the atmosphere so hostile to sharing information that the majority who were not spokespeople or had no desire to be interactors were left in the cold causes a self-limiting game.

And to repeatedly cry "Wolf!" - "My name is Eric and I'm a rogue PM," "We're a group of students making a collaborative game with our audience," "My name is Ron and I stole the idea of this game from someone who owed me money," etc. is just going to end up frustrating and turning even the most devoted players off, not only from this game, but from other ARGs in general. Which is a shame. There are games out there that do not trample roughshod over their audiences but take them along for an enjoyable journey.

[Agent Lex]

[Steamshell]

Should I feel guilty for thinking this is the coolest thing ever? I feel for the guy that got messed with, but this was just such an interesting idea. Was the PM just playing an epic prank on his friend, or did he have some kind of metalfictional artistic version for the whole thing? Because if it's the latter, I'm intrigued and impressed. Even if this goes against unfiction's TOS and/or general non-dickery etiquette, I still have to at least admire it.

Clap clap. Just never do this again.

[Burrito]

The reason we were unclear in our posts regarding whether a character was IG or OOG, is because we as players were unclear on the matter. Only a small handful of the Day 1 players are still around due largely to the early flood of meta content, the RigInt interference/game jack attempts, and finally the blurred IG/OOG interactions. Watching players come and go had made all of us incredibly paranoid and suspicious.. and we weren't worried solely about "plants", we were more concerned with potential gamejacks - especially considering how rocky things got after the first week or so.

I'm pretty dissapointed in how this has all turned out. Those of us that have been playing all along have seen just how much work and time has gone into this project. The amount of PM/Player interaction was impressive, frequently going on for hours at a time, even though that interaction was limited to a small core of players.

In any case, here's hoping this nonsense all gets resolved in a satisfactory manner.

[BlackandBlue]

Agent Lex is spot on

[addlepated]

Reading back, I think I wasn't clear in what I said, Burrito - I don't lay any blame on the players for their paranoia or unwillingness to share information. It was a hostile environment that was created by the game.

I'm of the belief that UF needs to be that safe place where players can go and huddle. There's no way to converse privately, away from the prying eyes of the in-game characters, without creating an invite-only space that would naturally exclude anyone who was just lurking along (like me). The inverted pyramid always gets hauled out as the model of ARG players (a few deep divers, some with moderate involvement, and the majority lurkers), but it does stand up - there are plenty of surfers who don't want a lot of commitment but do like to follow along vicariously, whether it's via UF or a wiki or a Story So Far page or whatever. Taking away the ability to do even that is lopping off the majority of your audience. Self-limiting. Counter-productive.

[Steamshell]

Re: Agent Lex is spot on

[PinkCloud]

how about the PM would clear up a bit of this confusion? seems like he has been on uF quite a lot before... imho it would be the least responsible thing to do for the players who dedicated so much to the game (if you can call that 'game' at all), and I would like to know more of his intentions, too.

As much as I'm sorry about the unwanted confusion of the players and about the copyright violation of BB (if that was the case), I find this ongoing discussion very intriguing. When so many rules and boundaries have been broken people really think about what they want an ARG and the uF to be like. and what not to.

and having my signature posting my research questions seems just a tiny bit funny here (I had the signature before this thread!). this ARG would have been a 'super' case study - if the material wouldn't all have been gone

[Pixiestix]

[krystyn]

I always like to say that there's no 'rules' in ARGs, but then in situations like these, it's easy to come up with a guideline or two, anyway.

In this case, I sort of want to say, 'what, you wanted the players to be complicit in committing several crimes with you, Ron? You wanted them to be villains, instead of heroes?'

Like, I get the potential twistiness of such a plot-line, but ultimately, you're asking the players to be dicks. It just isn't a strong story choice, is what I am saying.