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[Dorkmaster]

[META] Rant: Where are the puzzles? Is this ARG or ARS?

[vpisteve]

I would say that the hidden Sleeping Princess/Flea pages were actual puzzles that had to be solved to find. It's not all just reading along, there has been some stuff to solve, in order to move on.

FWIW.

[Mazian]

I concur, although I was shot down here.

Granted I'm rather new to this who ARG thing, it seems like it's just a scavanger hunt for payphones, with the reward being audio clips.

Occam's Razor, I'll stick with the theory of these being easter eggs until they point back to the ILB site. It also seems really poor planning, if the game requires these clips to continue, when they're relying on probability (i.e., that X number of phones will work, and be manned by beekeepers).

The best anti-easter egg theory would be that these are being used to narrow down the AXONs that work, and that the next bit of the puzzle will be presented via these phones/wavs only after the PM's have verified the working AXONs. But that theory only works for a future set of waves/calls, not for these presently.

After all, as someone else said in a different thread, why send dozens of their own people out to verify all of these phones, when they can send beekeepers to do it for them (for free)?

[sherpa]

There are some puzzles, assembling and answering riddles, for example. However, the proportion of puzzle to story is very low - and the puzzles aren't really changing (we all look at images for text now, don't we?). It's not totally an ARS, but it does have significant properties of one.

We are being led by the story, we're on its timeframe, puzzles involve reassembling the story. I do hope this gets more interactive - well, okay, how much more interactive can you get than answering a payphone? I think I mean challenging - otherwise I can't see any way for it to end with a bang. Still, based on the prevalent SPEC we have several weeks left to enjoy more fiendish puzzles, I hope.

[JimmyJames]

As I've never taken part in an ARG before, I'm not sure how they usually play. However, I think this one is a bit of ARS and ARG. The "game" part is discovering the who/what/where/when/how and why, but I think the ending is predetermined [spec]covenant finding and invading earth[/spec].

Maybe another description would suit it better, like ARM (Alternate Reality Mystery) or ARP (Alternate Reality Puzzle).

Regardless, it's enjoyable, interesting, and the cost is quite reasonable!

[Dorkmaster]

Sherpa, I think you've nailed it on the head. This is too... well, easy. It's almost too accessible. If that's what it is, then I accept that and move on, but I get the feeling that this just has SO MUCH POTENTIAL to say "ok kids, we've got you all spoon-fed enough so that NOW you're ready to take on some solid food" and give us some real leap-style out-of the-box, around-the-corner thinking.

vpisteve, I will give you that the yellowbrickroad and lookingglass stuff has been pretty good in that regard. I have nothing to contradict that. I guess I'm saying I'd like to see more of that type of thing. (I'd more specifically like to see Melissa spread off-site! I'd love to see other pages that don't involve the same ivory, puke-green, orange and black! )

I guess I just really want it to be known that while it's still SO MUCH BETTER than it not being here, it's not what it could be. The axon thing is an excellent start. I love the payphone interactivity. I love the audio clips! (Contrary to poular chatter, I think this is great voice acting!) I'm loving the story! I guess I'm just saying I'm now steeped in it enough to say "Ok, let's get off the couch, and really run with this thing."

I'm ready for the next step, and I think everyone else is too.

So again, I'm not complaining. It's good content. And we have had some puzzle-like elements. But as Sherpa said, the ratio of puzzle to story has been low. And no amount of awesome storytelling makes up for a cool puzzle, IMO. You need both, but this just feels imbalanced.

[sherpa]

[Dorkmaster]

Ok, well here comes the complaining part then.

*DM gets out his I've-got-no-right-to-say-this-but-I'll-say-it-anyway hat*
(it's a big hat)

Sherpa, that's the rub then, right? And I think it's why it has that television "you just sit there, we'll keep you entertained" feeling. It's dumbed-down for the masses. Well here's the problem: I'M THE MASSES!!! I never knew of ARGs before this game. I saw the "Sentient Machine Therapist" credit in A.I. and wondered, but let it be. I never participated or even followed the Beast. I followed a Halo 2 trailer here. I don't know the Haloverse beyond the first game. In fact, while I'll end up buying Halo 2 anyway, I won't be pre-ordering, and I won't be getting it for a while. (I gotta pay for Dorkmaster's Baby 1 before Halo 2 ) So I'm that casual guy from off the street that they wanted to look and got hooked. They did that, and I really think that this has gotten all the press and casual standarounds that it's gonna get. I just think it needs to kick it up a gear, cuz the people who are going to dig it are still around, and those who aren't gonna dig it, are gonna go away soon anyway (especially after the next set of axons are payphones that ring during the workweek or schoolday again)...

I just think it's time to go to the next level. I understand the mass-marketing aspect and making it accessable. But at some point you have to say "ok, well I've snagged the demographic. The people who are playing now are in it for the long-haul. Let's see how far they're willing to go!"

*DM removes hat... glances around to make sure he still has friends...*

edited to correct the sentence that made Dorkmaster look like he wanted to work in the red-light district

[Mazian]

DM... here here

[sherpa]

[farva]

Start exercising those vocal chords, Sherpa. They'll get a work-out next Tuesday.

I wish the idea that was being thrown around that the 777 counter would be increased through activities other than answering payphones was true. I think the events of the past week, coupled with the text on about.html saying something to the effect of "I will try to contact crew on a weekly basis", point to stupidly answering phones for another five or six weeks. Personally, I thought the payphone thing was tired after the first week. I was downright pissed when the hivekuts page went up. This isn't a fun game, it's a job.

The only thing keeping me in the game is finding out what happens to Stupid Cop. I don't really care about Harold and Kumar and I'm almost to the point where I don't care how the Covenant finds Earth and kicks off HALO 2.

[Danzilla76]

[johnny5]

I'm new to this whole business as well. Never heard of "the Beast"
The only ARG I was ever even remotely aware of was BMW's "Driver"
This seems like a good intro to ARGs, or ARG for the beginner. I can't say wether it will get tougher or not.

Before the Axons went hot, there was a lot of brainpower from all over the world and through all fields of professionalism trying to crack the code of the coordinates, and it turned out to be coordinates of payphones. That's the equivalent of a kick in the nuts, and not too many people would sign up for a second round. So, if it did get tougher, would we have the resources to solve it?

Pardon the randomness.

--john--

[CoffeeJedi]

i've been hoping that there will be some new website put up... even if its not infected, maybe a conspiracy theory cook ranting about wormholes and a crashed spaceship FROM THE FUTURE! but no... just Mellissa and SP on ILB, i wish something else would get infected... i like the audio clips, but i'm with you, i want to find another challenge, so far this one has just been trying to piece the story together... come on Melissa! get outta that server onto something else! we're getting bored!

[JimmyJames]

Well, as long as we're airing our grievences with this game, here's the two things that bother me. 1. There are puzzles left unsolved, but nobody cares. Everyone's concentrated on getting the axons hot and trying to link Jan with Durga with Farnsworth... Until those stories are complete, we can't be for sure what their significance is anyways, so why not go back and try to figure out the puzzles we've already been given? Maybe it's because we weren't able to solve these puzzles that the PM's had to turn to a spoon fed ARS.

My second problem is with the interaction. PM's if you're listening, try to at least acknowledge our presence on more than once or twice a month. Other than the questions that we are supposed to vote on, for SP to answer, and providing a physical presence to aswer the phones, the game has been pretty autonomous.