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 Forum index » Meta » Puppetmaster Help
New idea: Clan ARG
Moderators: imbri
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BenSerwa
Boot

Joined: 05 Sep 2004
Posts: 16

 		New idea: Clan ARG
Here's a new idea for an ARG. For those of you not interested in the "behind the curtain" aspect, or don't want to be spoiled in case this type of ARG is actually done in the future, I've wrapped it in a spoiler tag.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
I'll start by describing the specific ARG idea I had in mind, and then branch out with examples of how it could be changed to be made unique.

The ARG community is given the URL for what is supposed to be an incredibly good Counter-strike clan. The person sending the forums PMs to the players notes that his own clan is in a clanwar with them and gives the URL for his own clan too. He says his clan is pretty full right now, but if there are any really good players they see, he'll let people join. He claims these guys are incredibly good, so good that he's never seen a clan that good that wasn't cheating, and he knows they're not.

The clan in question is the Secret Crossfire Clan, and the site looks very professional and very military-like. The news entries are vague and almost speak in code, but what matters is that they plan times when they will be on their clanserver, openly challenging anyone who wishes to face them, though they insist on playing as the Counter-terrorists. They also claim that if anyone helps them out on the Counter-terrorist team and they play very well, they'll let them join their clan, though recruitment means certain... responsibilities.

The other clan is the Extreme Terror Clan (named after a popular Half-Life single-player MOD, ETC (earthquake test center)). Their website is a lot less professional looking, but the news entries are easier to understand. They claim they are currently in a clanwar with [SCC] and are trying desperately to beat them.

This is where the players come in. Once per week, the puppet-masters come online and play Counter-strike, and the players come online and either side with the [SCC] or side with the [ETC]. The team that wins the match that week will begin to get cockier, and will release more information about themselves and their /true nature/, though usually in code. The losing team, on the other hand, will be more likely to recruit players in an attempt to win the clanwar, and those recruited players will get access to more info and will be able to contact the characters on that clan at will.

As the rivalry gets more heated, they start to put stuff on the line against each other, agreeing to release limited information about themselves if they lose.

The real truth about these clans? The [SCC] is an actual army unit of biologically enhanced soldiers. The [ETC] is an actual terrorist cell. Both are using Counter-strike as a form of training.

In the end, if the [SCC] wins one final, everything-on-the-line match, the terrorist cell will release some info (through a puzzle) about where they're finally going to attack, which the players should leak to the [SCC]. When the ARG ends, it'll be with the [SCC] claiming to have squashed the terrorist threat with the help of the players, and also claiming the biological enhancements of their soldiers have gotten too close to being public for the program to continue. They shut down their clanserver and thank everyone for helping them quash the terrorist threat.

If the [ETC] wins the match, on the other hand, the [SCC] will release information about their biological enhancements and basically shut down their clan. The [ETC] will then shut down their clansite as well but leave a full detailed description of their terrorist activities and how they were using Counter-strike to train, and talk about having won.

Now, this is obviously applicable in any multiplayer game... Command and Conquer, Battlefield 19**, Warcraft 3, and would be especially cool in an MMORPG, especially The Matrix Online, though something like World of Warcraft would work too.


PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 5:16 pm
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tommył
Guest


 		Wow. That was brilliant.

However, I think that this would work more as a rabbit-hole than an ARG... a long pre-game, maybe. Heck, that would work. Then when the team loses the information starts the game up, information like the password to an administator's account or something.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:40 pm
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spaceboy
Unfettered


Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 475
Location: Cambridge Mental Hospital

 		Hmm. I'm not so sure about a couple of aspects of that.

1. How many people in the ARG community actually play Counter Strike? I don't really think that the number is very large.

2. The terrorism aspect of your plot could get the game shut down. Just look at what happened to Dark Code (if that even was an ARG, that is.)
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:42 pm
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C_Brennan
Decorated


Joined: 02 Sep 2004
Posts: 236
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

 		It's an incredibly cool idea, but sadly it does cut down on audience, or restricts the audience to that game's subset. I could really see this working with something like Matrix Online (though I've heard rumors that more Slumberil-ish things will happen and those who look hard enough will be rewarded in-game with special missions and such from information gained through stuff like Slumberil et. al.) or perhaps EQ or any game if you get the right tooling to it.

Heck, look at .hack, that's one walking game conspiracy. Lol. And it's immensely popular too.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:24 pm
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BenSerwa
Boot

Joined: 05 Sep 2004
Posts: 16
spaceboy wrote:
Hmm. I'm not so sure about a couple of aspects of that.

1. How many people in the ARG community actually play Counter Strike? I don't really think that the number is very large.


Well, Counter-strike is the most played multiplayer game online period, which is why I chose it, it'd be most likely to work.

Quote:
2. The terrorism aspect of your plot could get the game shut down. Just look at what happened to Dark Code (if that even was an ARG, that is.)


Well, this is only an idea, and this very reason is why I'm not doing this more secretively and trying to make it actually work.

I do like the idea of an ARG with a branching storyline based on the players' input through an online game as well as through the more traditional ARG-like puzzles. If necessary, a game could actually be created just for the purpose.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 3:30 am
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Nightmare Tony
Entrenched

Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 824
Location: Meadowbrook

 		Already hapening. Play Synagoga.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 3:52 am
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Crowfoot
Unfettered


Joined: 31 Jan 2005
Posts: 385
Location: UK

 		I love the idea, it's original, but to be honest the story's plausibility is not really existent. With a little work it could make a good mini-ARG.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:01 pm
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Katsurame
Veteran


Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 113
Location: Perpetual Motion

 		brilliant idea, but you have to think, are people going to buy counterstrike just to play this?
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:25 pm
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GuyP
Unfettered


Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 584
Location: London, UK

 		Some people might think that if you managed to pull this off, they could forgive the utter lack of believability.

Not I.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:20 pm
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