unforum

[Julian Sark]

I sent a test message to iris, see if I'm able to get a response. If so, everyone can send me their guesses and I can try them out. I guess we'll see if I get a response back first though.


EDIT: Nevermind, it bounced back...

[alogicnamedjoe]

Man, I just can't let this go. Since IRIs is down, I decided to punt: I emailed my authorization code guesses to Craig's yahoo address and advised him that IRIs is down. Hey, if Elizabeth "lives on" in the system he created, I bet Craig and Shanna are kicking around in there too. Nothing to lose.

Cheers

EDIT: At least this email didn't bounce!

[3v1L Schwinn]

I wouldn't worry about those bouncing emails right now. Read below.
http://brianbricker.blogspot.com/

[Ryutso]

Arg, no pun intended.

Well that was really...odd.

That Staybridge Suites clue was pretty close, but the problem is: Do we HAVE anyone who lives near there that could've gone there and inspected the picture? I know I couldn't have, seeing as I'm all the way on the OTHER side. Anything in South Florida and I'm good to go, but I don't think I'm able to drop money to get a plane ticket.

Then that Houston clue at Hotal ZaZa, is there anyone here who lives even REMOTELY close to Houston?

That "contacting the author of Buffy" though. That's one I didn't see coming. Why the hell were we supposed to think that the author of some book would have information on a clue that's 85 years in the future? I know Bricker wants to push the bounds of reality, but that's REALLY pushing it.

I didn't experience "I'm Sorry" the whole way through, so I'm not really sure what Bricker is trying to get at here when he says that he's trying to bring "reality" into the ARG universe. Can anyone fill me in on how he tries to bring reality in? That's like the main idea of his blog post.

tl;dr
Clues need work based on location of player. What is Bricker talking about with the "reality" angle?

[Julian Sark]

Huh, interesting to say the least.

[alogicnamedjoe]

First off, thanks to 3v1L Schwinn for posting a link to the PM's blog. I would never have found it on my own and would probably still be at trying to derive the authorization code from Craig's cryptic Nov. 11 blog. You saved me a ton of time and aggravation.

Second, I really did enjoy this game and hope that the PMs bring it back in a more traditional format because it was very engrossing and has so much potential.

Third, I have to sound off on the "reality" aspect of the search for the authorization code. Brian Bricker wrote:

[TheCheese]

Well that was disappointingly short. Hopefully it will be back soon.

I'm drawn to Bricker's games because of the blurring between reality and fiction but it would be unwise to drop clues in physical places unless you are certain of who and where your players are. It's great that the clues weren't obvious, but at the same time we had absolutely NO directions that pointed us to contacting real people, in fact I believe IRIS even stated that the code was available on the internet. So though I love the concept of actually contacting real people, it's kinda hard to expect the players to figure that out (or to afford trips to these locations for that matter).

[fernandocarulli]

So, first of all it was and is a great pleasure playing Sunshinemine so far and regarding Brians Blog there will be more of this in future. I really look forward to that Keep up your good work, the whole team from that heated team meeting And I think a lot of other people want 2 play more of that regarding the page numbers here in forum. Hey, the game didnt started yet and we'd hundred of entries already

Thats my first ARG. I didnt knew we had to take that hints so "literally". Okay visiting the hotel from europe would be kinda difficult, but the author of the book, okay thats an option if I had knew we've to use the hints also in real life. So two options in my opinion:

1.) Rewriting Sunshinemine into some kind of more internet based game.
2.) Using the same approach as before (i.e. real life persons as hint- bearer)

I think both options have potential for fun, adventure, headache and surprises. Now inasmuch we know the direction and the kind of hints both options are possible.

So I look forward for further news regarding Shanna, Craig, Iris and the others

P.S. Hey, not autobounce from iris ... sorry, couldnt resist

P.S.S. Heated team meeting? As social worker I know that kind of intense conversation Just drink some coffee (cliche #1) and listen to some good relaxing music (cliche #2) - maybe some early Queen stuff or Chopin piano concerts and everything will be fine

[Ryutso]

This is the way I think. I'm not opposed to the whole "reality, everything is a clue" type of gameplay. Actually, I think it's kinda fun when an obscure conversation with a friend can turn into a clue that furthers gameplay, but the geographically located clues I have a problem with. Not everyone is going to be in the right area at the right time.

Yes I know that ARG's draw a wide sprawling audience of people from around the country and around the globe, but if you place a clue in a certain place and no one can get there to reveal the clue to the rest of the group, the game needs to be reorganized and rethought so that the game can continue.

I'm not sure about it, but out of everyone here, was anyone able to take a day trip over to California, Chicago or the Texas location and scope out the clues?

[ironnikki]

Actually, I could have gone to Houston. I live in the Austin area, and Houston is not too terribly far from here, but it's far enough that I wouldn't have gone unless we were absolutely sure that there was something to be found out there.

I know I haven't been around too much lately, but I am sorry to see this one go. Out of all of the ARG pies that I've had my thumb in, this is the one that I was most excited about. I unfortunately have little room for anything time consuming (school + 2 jobs + extracurricular = not fun), but I would have been interested to see where this went.

In any case, I am excited to see where Mr. Bricker takes the ARG genre of gaming. I agree that what was expected of us was a bit much, considering our locations etc. Perhaps he wasn't aware of our locations? Also, I think that the players of I'm Sorry were able to pick something up in Cali, so I'm guessing that he assumed that we would be able to do so again.

I really hope that the future sees the line between realities blurred even more in the future. I think that the number of players, or at least how much they're spread, dictates how much a game can really step into reality. I sincerely hope that Mr. Bricker puts together another game soon, and that he chooses not to limit himself to online interactions. Allow me to add my voice to those who are congratulating him for pushing the lines yet again, even though it didn't quite work out this time.

[classical]

[jessie1326]

I am so disappointed to see this not work out, and I will definitely be around for the reboot if it comes together. I would like to add to this discussion, though.

First, on the "reality" aspects, I honestly believe the problem with these was not in their creation or existence, but in their implementation. These "real-world"/"real-people" elements are the kinds of things I love about some high-budget commercial ARGs and ARG-like games, and I would love to see them used more in this kind of grass-roots, story-for-story's-sake ARG. Based on BB's post, it seems to me that the possible routes to the authorization code were fundamentally well-designed; although one route to the code required a physical presence at the Staybridge Suites, which admittedly would have been difficult for us, it sounds like the concierge at the ZaZa and the book's author could easily have been contacted by telephone. Thus, anyone could have obtained the code.

The problem, as I see it, is that we (the players) did not know how far the boundaries were going to be pushed. We had no idea that "universe" extended into the "real world," and the PMs didn't draw us a clear (or even vague and shadowy) outline to get there. Boundary-pushing is great, and I'm not saying that the PMs should have held our hands, but (in my opinion) you can't push the boundaries when you start way outside the box. It just isn't practical to assume that players can follow you into uncharted territory when you haven't really hinted to us that we need to leave our own back yards.

Stepping back from the metaphors - seeing now what we were supposed to do, I think we could have done much better on the next puzzle, and better still on the one after that. The problem from my perspective is that they didn't give us any real way to figure out that the solution was so far outside our basic assumption that we were dealing with what scientists call a closed universe.

To take it one step farther, I agree with BB's recognition that we didn't get cluebats, we got clue needles in clue haystacks -- which is too bad. I honestly think that if we'd had, for example, only the business card from the Hotel ZaZa, someone might have thought to call the concierge. This game was set up so well and had all the hallmarks of an excellent, excellent ARG that if I'd had any solid suspicion that the way forward was to call a total stranger and ask them if they knew "Craig Rogers", I probably would have had enough faith to do that. But we just didn't have enough to go on.

To summarize:
Dear BB & other PMs,
Thank you for the work you've put into this and the extremely thoughtful and clever approach you've demonstrated at every turn so far. As you redesign, please don't overcompensate. Although I don't pretend to speak for all players, players like me are ready, willing, and mostly able to take part in the wild ride you've envisioned. But please, remember that for all of our curiosity and excitement, we are still limited. We have limited resources, but we will put as much into an ARG as we get from you; we have limited knowledge, but we can work together until our collective knowledge is almost boundless; and (most importantly for this ARG) we have limited experiences, but we will follow a well-crafted ARG wherever you lead us -- if you lead.

[alogicnamedjoe]

[ndemeter]

[whitecross8]

I just want to throw in my 2 cents so we can make it to about a dollar. I'm not going to pile on too much since Classical and Jessie said pretty much what I was going to say but they did it in a much more eloquent way.

However I did want to say that I was a complete noob on this game. I could have been led anywhere the PM wanted to lead. I came in with no predisposition to playing anyway at all. I just need to be told to jump and I would have responded how high; it just that in this game I wasn't sure if I should jump up, sideways or out and that was the problem.

Actually when I first heard about ARGs I heard they included drops and geo cache type stuff which sounds pretty cool to me even though I didn't think in Bakersfield I would be participating too often. Then Craig and Shanna drove to and stopped in my town. I was more than up for a little real life evidence gathering. Someone even said after the Bakersfield Blog entry, our first drop... and I was ready to go. Then I realized that they had left my town and San Jose is a four hour drive one way. A long drive for a maybe.

I had been on the game since the beginning; so why not adjust the clues to the audience? I know the PMs can't use the forums to "play" the game but just a perusal of the players early on could have led to a small adjustment of clue drops. Or leave a trail of clues in all the cities they might have stopped in giving you many more chances of someone living near one of the clues.

Moving past the actual game points, I don't disagree with Ndemeter that constant paranoia that everything is a clue is not fun and a looking for a clue needle in the clue haystack leaves a lot to be desired but on the other hand as a newbie to the genre I am looking for a little more than a pixel hunt in a brightness enhanced webpage. I want a logical clue to the problem which I can solve in a logical and real life way. Getting out and actually doing something safely could be fun.

Unfortunately, this as a first endeavor and my second foray which also isn't going too well either *cough* Hatshoe have both left me with an unrequited feeling for an ending to a story.