unforum

[jessie1326]

Mechanics You'd Like to See in an ARG

[Sarah B]

I have a vague idea for something I would LOVE to see in an ARG... it'd require some rings (about six I reckon). Engraved. A couple of live actors. An international treasure hunt. The end of the world (well the plan would be to STOP that obviously)...

If that sounds interesting, send me a PM and I'll outline the idea a bit better, haha. I'd love to do it, but it's way out of my budget. I'd love to be involved if you actually did it for real though!

[spaceboy]

[Sarah B]

I love that idea of two groups who both think the other is fictional. That is awesome. XD

[guywiththegun]

I would just like to point out that I once played an ARG that went into an online realm, specifically Cassie is Watching's foray into Second Life. And I can tell you, my friend, that did not go well, and the entire game tanked from there. Whether it was the way the PM's went about it (CiW was pretty much considered an LG15 gamejack by a lot of people in the first place) or the behavior of the players themselves (out of boredom from watching the titular character idle for hours on end, we built a tower of dancing cows on the front door of someones "real" virtual church) I couldn't tell you. But it didn't go well.

Honestly, maybe with more involvement or more cooperation from the governing body, it could go better. But I think the best part about an ARG is that there isn't any software to download, no console to buy, and no controller except your own brain.

As for mechanics I would like to see: My brother once had an awesome idea involving a game where the players basically had to teach themselves a programming language in order to complete an objective. Not so much become experts in C++ or Perl or something, but the example he gave was pretty much "Your players have a robot, they need the robot to do something, but it only responds to specific commands typed in it's native programming language." Not the best of ideas, but definitely one of the cooler ones I've heard discussed regarding ARG's.

[notgordian]

Playstation Xi worked fairly well, so taking ARGs into virtual worlds isn't entirely a non-starter idea.

[lifegospel]

True. I'd be interested if an ARG was taken to virtual areas. Whether that be through knowledge (Knowing a characters favorite game as a password,) Or through interactivity (Anyone who can beat the AI-character gets a website link)

I think the idea was even used in a sense for Last Call Poker.

[catherwood]

[Nighthawk]

[lifegospel]

Well, another idea I had for ARG mechanics was a trailhead that was so subtle you don't even know it's a trailhead.

Example:

Imagine you see a story in a newspaper about a man seeing a metiorite fall out of the sky. You do a little more investigation, and learn that he lives nearby, so you call his listed number, and the message on his answering machine sounds a little... off
So you go to his house to check on him. At the house, there's a letter in his mailbox, but it's not addressed to the man, it's addressed to *you*.

The envelope contains a thumb drive, a map, and an ID card for somebody named "Chayse Reed"
Suddenly, a police car pulls up and an officer sees the ID card. Apparenlty Chayse Reed was murdered the night before.

And it goes on and on, eventually drawing in people of all knowledges.

(OK, OK, maybe I got the idea from a dream induced by bad pizza, but it sounds cool in theory.)

[jessie1326]

heehee...life, that *does* sound cool in theory! I'm not sure how to pull it off in *reality*, but it's already got my wheels turning for all sorts of mischievous PMing....

[Fishjp]

[distilled]

TBH I block all spam so if I got Viagraspam I'd probably immediately think "TRAILHEAD" although I might also be hesitant to follow any links - never know, I might be wrong!

[Silent]

PvP Voting. Oh yeah.

[Nighthawk]