unforum

[kosmopol]

Oh yes, my friends, what a memories!

Cloverfield brought me to UnFiction. Firstly I was on imdb forums, but they were kinda chaotic and childish, filled with Ethan Haas and stuff, you know.

Then I've got to know about UF, came here and were chained for eternities. While of Cloverfield ARG flows I visited "News and Rumors" thread and was overwhelmed - so many ARGs and grassroots. I joined an Awesome ARG Conspiracy08, made by congenial PM XIII on his own. A zero budget Grassroot arg, where he mimed all characters in a global worldwide conspiracy and I found myself one day in a chat with a cute Japanese Office Lady Yori Tanaka, who sat under her office table with her damn silly water gun toy while her office was assaulted with a hardcore armed SWAT by a paramilitary group, and they've got here and I was the last man who told to her, while people at UF followed my live reports.

And I was like: WOW! I became ARG junkie and took part in so many ARGs, grassroots, Art guerilla weirdnesses like Junko Junsui, where PM contacted me as player and cried a little about all those players who don't get his art...

Ah people, UnFiction is my second home. And you are my second family.

[dmax]

[gimlet]

[kosmopol]

[woodsm3]

This could be a stupid question but....

[kosmopol]

Re: This could be a stupid question but....

[JustThinking]

I haven't done a lot of ARGs - but I think the creators of this one deserve thanks for way they have made it open to all- at least in the US- at each stage.

We could order Swamp Pop, go to the movies for trailer pics, play the Sim game, send emails to Mom. We also might have gotten something out of voicemails to Howard if people hadn't wanted to crack open the game pieces instead of playing with them.

So thanks PM's! (And what's up with the Eiffel Tower?)

[Cherry]

[Melodyman]

So after even more developments, I am convinced that Megan died in some kind of accident years ago (perhaps during a trip to Paris.. maybe she fell off the Eiffel Tower or something) and Howard has become unhinged as a result also causing his marriage to fail..Maybe it was his fault and he blames himself which explains his overprotective nature with the shelters and needing her to come to him for protection.. The items on FaPT seem to confirm this .. Like a snapshot of a young girls life frozen in time.. A teen magazine from years ago, a wreath and dress-up jewelry, various beads and arts and crafts and all the hearts similar to the Mailbox post and the journal.. Nothing recent like Prom pics or graduation photos etc..Not items we would relate with a post teen..if Megan was able to drive to NO she must be older than these things would suggest.. This plus not hearing a peep from her and her Mom apparently now selling off her memories with her stuff seem to indicate that Megan is and has been dead for some time.. Explains Howards OCD and sets up the film story well.. Not sure what a password to the chat would reveal since there is nobody to chat with except Howard..Unless all us ARG'ers are all going to pretend to be Megan there.. Think this was just a story enhancement to make us think she was alive to get the ball rolling.. Looking back it makes the game make sense now..

[dmax]

Blast

[gimlet]

So, I've connected a few things we've learned over the past few days and I have a hunch about something.

The biggest thing is that the replies from Mom are coming at approximately Pacific time - early Afternoon to early evening.

Thing number two: JJ in his video interview talks about "everything" for this movie being done in house, and how new and different that is for them (but also how well it's worked out for them, and how that's enabled them to keep things secret).

So, putting that together with how sure I am that one of the pictures from FAPT has the Hollywood Hills in the background, I think this ARG has been produced in house. I think the Team Fortress level they worked on in the fall was the first test of doing iterative, responsive game design in real time. Now they are running this ARG out of Bad Robot instead of hiring another outside Marketing company who would have less direct access to the film and its makers (like they've done in the past with varying levels of success).

So the issues we've witnessed were merely the growing pains of trying something totally new. I think if this is true it's great news overall, as we can look forward to them getting better and better at this, over time, and to movie & TV ARGs that have passion and narrative driving them forward that can only come from working directly with the filmmakers themselves.

Does that sound crazy? Or does it fit with what we've witnessed?

[JustThinking]

gimlet- I noticed the timing too and figured it had to be someone West Coast working the information.

[JustThinking]

Re: Blast

[hinoai]

[Salo]

Since the ARG has come to a relative halt (I realize that it could continue well after the film is released, and I'm personally hoping that it does), and now having seen the movie, I have some reflections on the whole experience. Don't worry; I will put all spoilers in the appropriate tag. These are just some of my views. I feel the need to discuss this movie, and while my girlfriend enjoyed it, she doesn't indulge in the "nerdy" (her word, not mine) stuff like I do.

PROS:
-- I enjoyed the Tagruato tie-in, the FAPT website, the hidden image trailers, and the overall ominous tone of this ARG. Having watched the original trailer a few dozen times, the ARG really enhanced the feeling that I got from it. It definitely had a claustrophobic, ominous, urgency to it that I think complimented the trailer and, after having seen it, the film in general.
-- I think that the ARG really served, and helped to flesh out, Howard perfectly. Having him react, in his paranoid conspiracy theorist manner, to actual real world happenings was a masterstroke. Though it confused us at the time because we are conditioned to search for clues and additional websites that were IG, it ultimately gave the character depth.
-- I enjoyed watching MugensKeeper hunt for the dead drop. I also enjoyed the USB recordings, which