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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Super 8
Your Take on the Super 8 ARG So Far
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Xeno Lambrose
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Joined: 12 Jun 2010
Posts: 668

 		 Your Take on the Super 8 ARG So Far
How does this ARG compare with others (so far)
I wasn't part of the In-Like-Flynn-a-TRON or CloverARG1.1—this is my first.

Can some/anyone tell me how our current ARG compares (so far) with some of the others in:

1. Ability to hold the ARGonaut's interest/expectations. Wink
2. Character and plot development. Shocked
3. Degree of challenging clues; from "Sesame Street easy" to "Stephen Hawkings hard." Mad
4. Pacing revealing clues. Evil or Very Mad
5. Overall satisfaction Laughing

PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 2:25 am
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gramma
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Joined: 06 Aug 2007
Posts: 171
Location: germany - nearby frankfurt

 		1. compared to cloverfield this ability is almost not existent in this one

you had multiple related story-strings to watch and the clue-timeline was almost perfect - at peaks at a daily and weekly in average

also direct actions from the "puppetmasters" related to the reactions of the community made it feel more dynamic

2. there is almost no character development in this one so far

at clover we had a various choice of people that where related to the "tagruato/deepseanectar" backstory, related to the main "slusho" story and also people that connected the back with the main story

the movie characters had accounts on various social networks and even communicated directly with the arg players

3. you cant compare the difficulty of clues in different arg's/virals cause they differ so much in their timeline and each momentum the players create with every new clue

the difficulty also depends on the smaller groups in between the whole player community - if the timeline of an arg is able to create enough dynamic movement - you also get this smaller and by that more effective "workgroups" of "period-arg-friends" - with each of this "PAF's" the difficulty level drops down by nature through direct communication

4. at clovertimes it was more "racing for clues"... not a pace Very Happy

5. the only satisfaction this viral has atm is:

it has the ULTIMATE PERFECTLY UBER EPIC conditions for geek-nerds like us

Aliens - Secret Gov. Units - PDP-11 (hooray) - the fu*'in 70/80ies feeling - Smalltown surrounded by a lot of tree's - a son grew up without his father searching for a fish instead of daddy

the only element i am missing is a french scientist that loves colored music Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 4:07 am
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r.m
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Joined: 10 Sep 2010
Posts: 719

 		Xeno-
I had some of the same questions you asked.

It seems slow. (ZZZ) I thought maybe because the movie doesn't open until June 2011, but then what is the point of even releasing the trailer with the sties link? If they wanted to stir up early interest by getting the viral going, they should keep stirring or ARGers are going to lose interest.

gramma, kosmo, or anyone else who knows --

If we are way off track or totally missing a clue, does some "great guiding hand" eventually try to point us in the right direction or are we left to wander aimlessly until we drop out of the ARGosphere?

PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:45 am
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Jane Smith
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Cheese crackers are good...
My 2 ¢

I must say after the initial rush of building clues then the stagnancy of nothing, I am getting a humdrum feeling about the way this game has been proceeding. I kind of did expect a "calendar of events" as it were, which to me would make better sense and flow and also build that anticipation and excitement for what we think will come via DATE:_________ also ..uhh how many time do they expect me to just go check stiles??

Every time I look at Xeno's deep theories into the details of who the characters really are, make the little fire stir within "in hopes" as it were. But then I see how top skim the information we have received is and go back into my "oh well" disappointed view.

I don't think we have lost any major clues maybe this "event calendar" if there is one, don't think so. Maybe a few small details but once the connectors are there I'm sure we won't miss anything.. Even I say WAY OVER ANALIZE the minute details Razz

I am assuming from what I know of these things to be 5 or 6 months of activity. So the lag so far is normal to build a fan base and spread the mystery to our "like minded" friends.

If things don't FREAKING BLOW MY MIND Bang Head in the next few weeks and months it will crush a small part of my inner geek and that geek may go get contacts and retire the spectacles. Sad

Crosses fingers...toes...eyes… ouch...great now I can't see anything.

Jane

PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 12:20 pm
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Xeno Lambrose
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Joined: 12 Jun 2010
Posts: 668

 		The Pace of the ARG
I'm not a 'puter savvy person, and I know there are some Über-geeks (stated with the utmost admiration) among my colleagues, but I think it would be interesting (if someone had the time and inclination) to graph a timeline of the "reveals" and the resulting "buzz" generated based upon posts, comments on sites such as Unfiction and Super8News. Just as a study in effective viral marketing it would be an element to perhaps illustrate the best way they should be conducted.

I recall, Vapor, I believe it was, who became so frustrated with the pace that he/she bailed months ago.

In some ways, my behavior in this ARG reminds me of the mentality of the slot machine junkie.

I was intrigued, and for the most part, very impressed by JJ's efforts and have been a fan of Spielberg's earlier mega-films, so when I saw the trailer for S8, seeing that this was going to be a Abrams/Spielberg collaboration, and dealing with Sci-Fi, my favorite genre, I was hyped.

I had learned (after the fact) that there had been an ARG—at the time, I didn't even know what the term meant—for Cloverfield, so I Googled to find if there was any ARG for S8 and ended up over at Super8News. Lurked over there until I began noticing major clue references leading to Unfiction, so here I are. Can't recall when I joined, but did read guidelines, and ALL (though at that time it was considerably less) pages of the S8 threads.

But here's what I noticed, and I in no way claim this to be a revelation, but after a "reveal" came a spending of TIME analyzing, and perhaps, contributing to a fury of theories, suggestions, ideas, etc. It was exciting to see all of the intelligentsia in action and learning from them—it was satisfying! It was like the "slot machine junkie" who, after putting in TIME and MONEY get's back an amount of coin.

But after a reveal and the resulting peak of ideas came the downward plummet of checking, re-analyzing, checking for the IG sites for anything new, "Nope, not today." Keeping up with our colleagues' finds (if any). "Nope not today." And so on, and so on.

We've been with this for nearly 7 months and what do we have: clues have led to computer console with files that lead ?, operated by ?; retro era Astronaut hawking product; 40-something male obsessed with extinct fish who inherits items that may, or may not, lead to his "never known" father; Mysterio who we're not sure is good, bad, ugly, or all of the above, and wants something from Josh, that so far he's not been able to provide.

Now if I'm going to tell my friends about this ARG and tell them the above-mentioned facts (as I see them), there going to say, "Yeah, that sounds REALLY interesting, ho hum, and you say you've spent how many months on this? Oh, sure we're interested—just let us know if there's really anything going on, 'cause it sounds—now don't take offense—like a waste of time."

Oh well, maybe the PMs will feel sorry for us and toss us a crumb—it is the season, you know. Confused

PostPosted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:33 pm
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Nytshaed
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Joined: 13 May 2010
Posts: 74
Location: Boot Camp

 		Is it too late to join Super 8?
Or should I bother?

I've just finished, (I think....) my first ever ARG, that being TRON:Legacy which to an ARG n00b was INCREDIBLE in detail, planning, and just plain FREE Swag showing up in the mail from time to time.

I want to do it AGAIN! I am not going to search for a new one expecting it to be up to that level, but I can hope, right?

What have you gotten out of this ARG so far, mentally, technically, and Swagically. If that's a word...

Nytshaed
/end of line.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:15 am
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punxtr
Die Hard Try Hard


Joined: 17 Jul 2010
Posts: 2994

 		I feel like Super 8 hasn't even truly started yet. You're not late at all. Just register yourself up at RP and wait like the rest of us. Next update hopefully on the 16th at STIES btw.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:30 am
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r.m
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Joined: 10 Sep 2010
Posts: 719

 		Re: Is it too late to join Super 8?
Nytshaed wrote:
Or should I bother?

I've just finished, (I think....) my first ever ARG, that being TRON:Legacy which to an ARG n00b was INCREDIBLE in detail, planning, and just plain FREE Swag showing up in the mail from time to time.

I want to do it AGAIN! I am not going to search for a new one expecting it to be up to that level, but I can hope, right?

What have you gotten out of this ARG so far, mentally, technically, and Swagically. If that's a word...

Nytshaed
/end of line.


This is my first ARG so I don't have anything to compare it to. I think I'm safe in saying it's definitely not too late to join in. Read through multipsychoapopheniosis's great game summary to get the background.

There hasn't been a lot mentally or technically lately, unless we're totally missing something. Maybe you'll see something we missed. As far as swag goes - there was the Rocket Poppeteer truck handing out tshirts and pins at San Diego Comic-Con and some possible RP posters at NY Comic-Con. I think that's it.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:34 am
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Nytshaed
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Joined: 13 May 2010
Posts: 74
Location: Boot Camp

 		OK...
Registered at RP.com, and played with the controls on the space ship. Does something get revealed if you hit stuff in a certain sequence? Also if there is a better thread for n00bs for this ARG, please point me.

Chainsaw Fellatio wrote:
I feel like Super 8 hasn't even truly started yet. You're not late at all. Just register yourself up at RP and wait like the rest of us. Next update hopefully on the 16th at STIES btw.


Nytshaed
/line

PostPosted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:02 am
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KevsterSD
Boot


Joined: 19 Mar 2010
Posts: 58
Location: San Diego, CA

 		I'm pretty new to the whole ARG thing, getting involved through the Legacy game after reading about it somewhere... This one has been slower than the Legacy one for sure, but I am thinking it will be taking off soon, now that Josh is beginning to get more involved with the TROGL/Badge/Comic connection going... especially since Legacy will be opening this week and that game is coming to an end. I found the summary in this game to be very helpful with catching up and allowing me to get involved at all! Not having the computer background and knowledge about the PDP-11 and all that stuff would have made this much more difficult to catch up without it.

PostPosted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:17 am
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Euchre
uF Game Warden


Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 3342

 		Re: Your Take on the Super 8 ARG So Far
How does this ARG compare with others (so far)
1. Ability to hold the ARGonaut's interest/expectations.

Well, there hasn't been enough to chew on, not even in terms of detail for its own sake just to keep us engaged. I think we've been fed a relatively slim diet slowly to keep us aware, before they really start to crank things up. Cloverfield was not well paced, in terms of regular updates for the whole duration. There was a rather long and unexplained lull. I think JJ and his people were hoping to pace things a bit more from the initial 'reveal' to the real ramp up, instead of hitting dead waters in the latter half of the duration like Cloverfield did. Expectations is a different matter, since this is so far more interactive than Cloverfield really was. (There was no real way to join anything for that, nor was there even one live event involved. This has both) Its nowhere near a 'traditional' ARG though. Not even a very commercially driven one like for The Dark Knight or Tron Legacy. The audience for JJ's work is a little different though, and I think many of his fans would find a more conventional ARG too tedious and corny.

2. Character and plot development.

As far as we know, not a whole lot of that. We don't know if Josh Minker is a character in the film, if any of this directly relates to it, or if we're just getting a side story or prologue. Since we have no really visible characters in the teaser, we've got almost nothing to go on.

3. Degree of challenging clues; from "Sesame Street easy" to "Stephen Hawkings hard."

So far, its a bit of both really. Once we find a new site, its really not all that hard to figure out whats there. Anything we can't figure out probably lacks any meaning anyway. There haven't been explicit signposts for finding sites though, so that's where we have had the challenges. If it gets more engaging via the likes of Rocket Poppeteers then we'll really see how much they really want to test us.

4. Pacing revealing clues.

As noted before, its actually more evenly paced than Cloverfield was, although lacking in dimension and dynamics. Since I don't think we're in the real ramp up, I don't think we can expect all that much more pace.

5. Overall satisfaction.

Since it really doesn't seem to have started in earnest, I can't say yet. I am pleased that I KNOW there's a way I can be contacted and not miss if they are going to start engaging us more. We were never members of anything in Cloverfield, we were just peering through the fourth wall basically. Yes, some people got some messages through on MySpace and got their Happy Talk posted, but in this case everyone can register with RP and expect to get an email from Capt. Coop at some point.

I love the swag I got from Flynn Lives. I loved guessing and speculating for Cloverfield. I don't want Super 8 to be either of those though, I want it to be its own thing. Yes, I'd like to have something tangible to show for it, but I don't want to just feel like a trained animal pushing the right button to get a food pellet. I want hints and clues, I want to debate what they mean, and I want to get some answers - and I expect that some things will never be answered.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:01 am
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ljm
Decorated

Joined: 20 May 2009
Posts: 182

 		Quite frankly, I don't think we've been given enough to form an opinion... and that sort of speaks for itself, doesn't it?

PostPosted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 3:19 pm
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YourFriendlyNeighborhoodR
Boot


Joined: 24 Dec 2010
Posts: 57
Location: NY

 		I was part of The Dark Knight ARG and that was bananas compared to this. Then again, I don't think it's fair to compare the 2 too much, being that the incentive of interacting with such a well known fictional world/franchise as that of Batman is apples to oranges.

I mean, until we get to "cell phones hidden inside cakes" status like TDK, Super 8 has some growing to do.

PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:27 am
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