unforum

[kiro]

Re: Meeting with Jane

[krystyn]

OK, now your post in the other thread makes a little more sense. It's a shame you feel this way, and had this experience.

ETA: Maybe you could write to 4orty 2wo and ask for your money back
</typical free ARG experience rejoinder>

[kiro]

[Anton P. Nym]

Kiro, I'm afraid I can't sympathise with your opinion on the PMs.

I had to experience the end to this ARG outside a 'training session' as well. I've never been able to reach an axon, even. I was as much outside as anybody.

Yet I participated however I could. I joined here, speculated with the community, shared insights, offered support, and did what I could. Not much, but some positive.

I then had the great privilege to be invited into a fan group, the Fireflies. There I was able to help collate and organise the information coming in. (Not as much as most others, but enough to help.)

At the end I was here, sitting at my computer, listening to the axons as they streamed in and posting with the others (also left out) as each snippet fell into place. And we had a BLAST!

No, I didn't get to play Halo 2 early. No, I didn't get a DVD and lanyard. No, I haven't received a reply from Jane about the DVD list. Out of untold thousands participating, I don't expect to.

My reaction to this is, "SO WHAT?"

It was all about the search, the shared goal, the sense of community. I don't get a bauble and a pat on the head, but I still feel rewarded because I HAD FUN. I had fun because I participated here. I was able to share the triumphs of the more-fortunate others because WE WERE A TEAM. In a team, if one member wins it reflects on the rest. Just because I wasn't the star doesn't mean that I begrudged the stars their share of the glory because THEIR WIN WAS MINE TOO.

The PMs weren't there to hold our hands because they're not supposed to be. They stay behind the curtain because the story is one that WE are meant to enter, become, and even create. That they came out from behind the curtain afterwards and joined with those of us who could be with them is a nice gesture.

You complain that their responses weren't timely. Bloody hell... in the two days after the curtain came down, they must have been exhausted. (I was, after I ran my little project.) That it took two days to notice and respond to the DVD issue is not surprising to me.

(Disclaimer: I agreed with Mazian. I still do; it was up to the PMs to decide if this sharing was acceptable. That's how copyright works. I know that it's not in vogue right now to respect copyright, but since I made a (very poor and very brief) living from it, I can't abuse it in good conscience.)

You expected something from the PMs that they didn't deliver. So you're upset and ascribe their actions to malice. I didn't expect anything from the PMs that we couldn't provide ourselves... and I'm not and I don't.

If you can't see why that's so, if you can't share that, then I can't find much sympathy for you. Sorry. Flaw in my character, perhaps.

-- Steve's stomach churned at the shrill whining of the Single Player Demo Releasers too, and is trying to quash the reply he used to them.

[vpisteve]

SometimeS yOU get in pRoportion to what you Give.

Sometimes it's not the destination so much as the jouRney thAt's the most fulfilling.

Sorry this destination didn't end uP where you apparaEntly thought it was going to be.

ExpectationS and all thaT. To offer A constructive criticiSm is one Thing, but to point fingErs of bLame at other people because you dIdn't get the ending you may have liKEd is pretty lame. It's really too bad that at the end of the day, when you juSt didn't get it, you Had to resort to finding fault In others to make you feel betTer about yourself. My heart bleeds.

[kiro]

[Incitatus]

Kiro, I'm sorry.
But for a game wich required the players to do so many extremly challenging and trying exercises...
You sure are expecting the PMs to just hand allot to you on a silver platter.

By sticking with the game for as long as it did, you at some point took on the task knowing the only reward at the end of the rainbow may be the conclusion of the story.

so why then do you complain that these people organized (through what I imagine was a greatly expensive endeavour) Distribution and presentations wich satisfied a good number of loyals, and are trying to satisfy everyone

Mind you that all they have done, provided us with, and allowed for us to partake in, has been absolutly at no cost to us. Meaning they get nothing extra for going the extra legnths they obviously did to help us out. Can you make everyone happy? no. especially when working in a tight budget.


Can you just sit back and imagine how much they spent and invested in us for a moment?
Voice actors, studios, audiofx, digital mastering, DVD production/distribution, rental of the theaters/mechanisms for the training event, website bandwith, automated calling machines, phonebills, etc...

do you have any idea how much that adds up to? how much of this did you contribute? any beekeeper? nothing. in a capitalist market, this is the next best thing to a divine gift. There is no room for the free-loading consumer/beekeeper to complain that not enough has been done.

Non-economically... this game has been a powerfull and moving story, presented by just the right people in just the right way. we are greatfull for their efforts to entertain us. you speak as though you represented extremly selfish people. And I am happy to either question if that is so, or assert that you do not speak for all.


Thank you for your opinion, it has been duelly noted and filed *trash*.

[kiro]

[kiro]

[Astald]

kiro, I am sorry to hear you say that. The DVDs are something that is a gift to the players of the game, even if it takes them months or years to ship them out, I see no real reason for anyone to complain. We have not paid for anything in order to experience this game. If you want to talk to anyone who was in charge of the game, I am sure you can find their e-mail addresses. I can kind of see where you are coming from, but remarks like that don't encourage people to do better, they encourage them not to bother doing anything like it again. In the wind-down of the game, I am sure the PMs were as busy as ever, and may not have had a chance to react to the legal questions over whether or not sharing and downloading the DVD content would be against the law. But I, and I am sure most others here, do not know. That is why you should e-mail them about it. I enjoyed the game, from beginning to end. And again, sorry you were disappointed.

[Nova]

I fail to understand how the ending was "borked". ALL of the stuff on the DVD (save for the alternate Widow's Story stuff, the outtakes like the alternate Kamal chapter etc that weren't actually part of the story) was available on the website during or before the 'training events'.

I was not even in the same country and I didn't feel the ending was "borked" at all. I got to hear up to chapter 12, I got to hear Melissa's goodbye. I fail to see the problem.

[kiro]

[ariock]

Responses

[Phaedra]

Eek. As concisely and politely as I can manage while high on acupuncture (whew! endorphins!) and some very good chocolate...

Hi, everyone. Take a step back. Breathe deeply.

[kiro]

Re: Responses