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[tycho]

Complaints, Problems... Future-ARGs

[AngryEd]

The ONLY real issues I had with ILBs, was the randomness of the axon locations and times, making it hard to consistently participate, and the difficulty to leave the game for a few days and come back to it without needing to do a lot to catch up.

I also woulda liked a live training that I coulda attended

Although you are correct, I believe ANY "in game" event, such as live trainings or even mission log pickup locations should have the same decorum as the game. IE, when I went to pick up my DVD in the cleveland location, I shouldn't have walked up to the attendant, said the passphrase and have her look at me like I'm an idiot. She shouldn't have had to call a manager, they shouldn't have had to pull out a memo and read it in front of me to find out what to do. (I shoulda stole the memo! ) A "real" ingame experience should have been much more like our interactions in live calls etc.

These are in the nature of the game though, and you can't make something EVERYONE will always like. The PMs did an exceptional job responding to our indirect feedback, and did the best they could with the budget they were allowed.

Any undertaking of this size will have it's quirks and flaws, and it's a testament to the PMs' dedication to us as a crew, that the only real issues were so minimal and out of their realm of responsibility.

[TuxKamen]

Hm. Your idea first, I think...

Your suggestion is, more or less, the approach that Majestic took--in that case, the 'player boundary' was that you paid for entry.

With ARGs, so far the biggest ones have been ones that exist as marketing vehicles. That creates a conflict between your idea and the partial goal, which you stated already: Get the meme out to as many people as possible and generate hype for the subject matter.

If you want to create the maximum hype, you need the maximum number of people feeling invested in the game's events. If you even have a whiff of perception that 'only the real players' get to do stuff within the game, you might turn some people off.

As an example, look at the crew calls. People were freaking out when seven people out of X hundred players became crew. Then the next week, more got in. Then more, and more, and then the crew exercises came in...look at how many people who had done 'little to nothing' by that point became crew members. Are they any less official than, say, I am? No way.

The designers made the game very accomodating, and that's a good thing, in my opinion. You certainly don't want to give the impression of being inaccessible.

[Phaedra]

I was a little disappointed in the Chicago event, but only because I heard rumors there that the PMs were in the other three locations.

I have since learned from the horse's mouth that they weren't -- they were only in CA, and that they really wished they could have somehow gotten to all locations. So, my heart is overflowing with affection and I no longer have any complaints.

[thebruce]

hate to be a devil's advocate... but here's another perspective... when starting the game, there was no contract, we didn't have to sign anything, agree to anything, nothing of the sort... they started providing things bit by bit. My point - they didn't say "those who participate more in the game will, in the end, receive better treatment at events and get first dibs on swag". We - each of us - took part in the game, with no expectation of what was to come. At the point they started giving things away, many people felt compelled to voice their opinions that they had more of a right to certain things...

Many players willingly stepped back and let others go first, many complained that they didn't get what they feel they deserved. So now where do the creators stand? Ideally, it's entirely our own faults that we're upset. Personally, I'd be saddened if I didn't get anything, but I wouldn't feel I 'deserved' anything more than anyone else...

If you really feel you want something, then tell the PMs... as for the events, well, I couldn't make it to one... so, regardless of how much I contributed, I got shafted along with many others...

So from now on, keep all this in mind for future PMs... make sure that anyone in the future who does an ARG knows what the players will expect if there are events or free swag... make sure the PMs know how players will feel if they feel they don't get reimbursed for their efforts in the game...

that's about all we can do...

[TuxKamen]

So, now to the complaint:

Could it have been a little more polished? Even though I didn't attend any of the events or drop, I can say 'Yes, sure.' Compared to The Beast's live events, it was probably not as 'realistic'. However, consider again the scale of Halo versus A.I. The venues had to be much bigger, and you lose some of that personal feeling. Likewise, the scope means that the small team running the show doesn't necessarily get to micromanage every aspect of these huge events...which were, by that point, more about Microsoft and Halo the game than about ILB. It was only half an in-game event.

Is it ILB's fault that the theater employees didn't know what you were talking about? Mmmmm, not really. The Microsoft staff probably didn't offer anything other than a note or a memo about what to do. It might be different if you walked up to a guy in MJOLNIR armor in the lobby, said the passphrase, and he just looked at you like _you_ were the one in the spacesuit.

Regarding axons: It may have been scattershot at first, but that was deliberate, an effort to see which locations had the most hits. As time went on, those locations with more hits were focused and improved upon. Near the end, in fact, the sequence of axons in our area was locked into a fixed order, and the times varied only slightly. I answered what I could, and I was happy with the amount of time it took to make that happen.

[Shad0]

Re: Complaints, Problems... Future-ARGs

[Clayfoot]

I'm disappointed in Chicago, too; and I think Phaedra has the perspective correct. Here's what I expected from Chicago:

* a chance to meet all these folks that I knew only by literary personality and occasional photo or voice clip on ILB.
* a chance to play Halo 2 on Xbox Live early, and then to find Weephun and shoot him in the head as frequently as time permitted. Heck, I even chipped in to make sure he got there.
* a satisfactory wrap-up to the saga
* a chance to pickup Halo 2, an xbox, or sundries for cheap or free.

The player selection process at the event was life-shortening, especially considering how little time we had. Add to that, only one screen was playing live across the county. If I had known how that was going to turn out, we could have cut out for Denny's as soon as the prize drawing was over. It would have been easier to solve the puzzle there, anyway. Except for the last audio file, the last puzzle clues, and a few minutes of game preview, the Chicago event was boring until we left the theater. I totally didn't need to hear that all of the voice actors showed up in San Francisco. Denny's, conversely, was delightful. Halo at DMZ after that was terrific. Let's just skip the official function next time, eh?

[tycho]

complaining?

[AngryEd]

[Phaedra]

[Shad0]

Re: swag

[Scumbag]

[Shad0]

Re: Complaints, Problems... Future-ARGs

[hmrpita]