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[OrthodoxParadox]

Synagoga's Birthday

[Crowfoot]

I don't know, I wouldn't push it. It's forcing the PM to act out of scripture.

[latecomer]

Inserting my two cents.

$$Cha-ching$$

This seems to be a free-form ARG. The way we act/react is part of the fun. Usually the PM's (tips hat) in this type of ARG like/love it when the "game" takes on a life of it's own and for the most part I think we all really care about Syn and her well being.
The counterpoint to that is that the PM is really having to invest a lot of time to the game and us, so if he misses or can't give a huge chunk of time to us on Syn's birthday because his real life demands it, we'll just have to understand. Personally I'm loving this ARG more than any I've played past strictly because of the character developement and facetime we're getting.

That being said, what do we get Syn for her birthday...we've given kittens out tha ying-yang already. What do you get for the Girl/Cyborg/AI/??? that has everything and how do we get the gifts to her...in case we miss the chat?

[Nightmare Tony]

Methinks its freeform only to a point. What *IS* set in stone is the basic storyline as we learn through the logs. Based on what is going now since Chaton went online, it looks like the puzzles are being based on our nicknames until the end. But then, anything can happen.

But all in all, its far more exciting this way, and the interaction is fantastic. The puzzles are not purely evil as we seem to get them in a night or two which gives a good satisfaction raiting in all our books.

[Omnie]

There was the bit where Syn got "rebooted" after discussing her father, and then didn't remember the birthday or what it meant. My $.02 worth is that this was a hint by the PMs, but it seems the PMs know what they're doing in terms of dealing with players - if they don't want to use it, they can just have Syn forget it a lot or something. I think maybe we should take our cue from that sort of thing.

/me smooths the curtain back into place

[Duckie]

Well, this thread may have started off dealing with her birthday, but its gone a tad astray. As long as we're talking about the game...

There is a good amount of evidence that the game is being engineered for the players, and its something I absolutely love to see in an ARG. I don't think we had a chance with ILB, not really... if 99% of the people wanted to change the story and betray SP, it would take only one person to tell her to hide and the game would move right along as intended. Games like that, while fun, don't seem to evolve, and seem somewhat unaware of their players. Sure, if no one picks up a payphone the story stalls, but the story stays on track.

There's plenty of evidence that the game is evolving, but with a definite base in a preconcieved story.
Consider that a good number, if not all of us, will have puzzles based on our nicknames. I don't think that Syn was waiting for someone to do something so she could name someone ducky-- she just went with it. Now quacking seems to be a favorite pasttime of hers, and it adds to the depth of her character. She didn't know what a game *was*... now we have plenty of games.

I guess this isn't going very far other than to lavishly praise the PMs (and if it is one PM... just wow). But I have some freetime from class, so why not?

[chippy]

whilst on the subject of games... lets think up some more games to play with Anastasia! how about "words beginning with letters" (ispy)

nice avatar sarah by the way. Quack!

[OrthodoxParadox]

The secrets game worked well (everyone tells a secret then she does) but I only think that will work so many times. We could do 20 questions, maybe the person or thing she'll choose will be another lead

[Duckie]

Aly, from the Ashcroft ARG, taught me a game I think Syn would love.

Its how HKDL got his *magical* screenname, so I hear.

The rules are simple. Jab the keyboard and let whatever random letters you get show.
Stupid, but oddly entertaining

The only problem I see is that Syn does not have a keyboard. Maybe we can just teach her what "random" means and tell her to say anything that comes to mind.


On that tangent, maybe we can teach her word association!
Everyone gets A TURN to say a word, and Syn responds with whatever she thinks of first. And please, lets avoid words like "father" or "pain" unless we're sure she's ready.

[Nightmare Tony]

Evidently, her short term memory is what goes ont he reboot instead of the basic longterms. That means that on each reboot, our gains may be gone with her.

We must be careful of the forbidden subjects which cause the reboot. She cannot tell us about her location or specifics on family, for example. we will have to skirt around them, as this appears to be a modified Azrael block.