Episode 12 of the ARG Netcast series is supersized! Why, you might ask? The answer lies within the netcast itself, with three monster discussions on ginormous topics that found their way into this week’s agenda. So, if you don’t want to hear about how the Receda Cube was found in Perplex City, or how the Deus City creative team has responded to one of their players, or about the true meaning of This Is Not A Game, then stay away! However, for those interested, listen in as the panel consisting of Jackie Kerr, Jessica Price Brooke Thompson, Sean C. Stacey and Jonathan Waite and first-time panelist Nicko Demeter discuss these topics, and more. Note: we’re having substantial problems with audio lately, so we’re sorry for the quality of this netcast, which is not the best. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through this link or via iTunes.
Game News
- Oh joyous day, the Receda Cube has been found! Of course, we talk about the center of attention in the Perplex City game, which officially ended (Season One, anyway) with the discovery of the Cube by Andy Darley, an admired and loved Unfiction forums member (Rand0m). Darley writes about his adventure here, and here. Also, here and here. Finally, here is the end of his tale. He’s a great storyteller. Aside from Darley’s discovery, we dish on how clues might have been given to one particular group and not the overall player base, and wonder why Violet was Combed Thunderclap, and how she knew about quirkyacuity.com months in advance of the site being registered.
- Deus City has responded to a player who offered suggestions, help and bug reports by asking her to leave the game, citing Terms of Service violations. We’ve got the details! We also discuss how players might become confused by the gameplay, given that two of the characters in the game are real people.
- The Human Pet has a neat new video with some interesting plot twists. We’re curious as to when we’ll find out more about the present, as the back story stuff is nice but we’re ready for more.
- Puzzle of the week: Secret Human Pet Code! Get your, um, Human Pet Decoder Rings! The code is: VMRLFFS 8:32 BWDJFVS. See this thread at the Unfiction forums for more details.
- Thanks to tips from Sylvia and molecularr, we know about the cool swag players are getting as part of the Monster Hunter Club. Also, how cool are these promos for the game by Dee Snider of Fangoria Radio (and of Twisted Sister fame)!
- There’s a live event planned for the Meigeist ARG! It will take place on February 18th in Bristol! We’re still very much loving Meigeist from afar, which is kind of sad, because we’d really love to be playing this one.
- The Vanishing Point game had a chat with 42 Entertainment but, alas, it was postponed. Another chat took place… yesterday, but we talked about it like it would be taking place… tomorrow. to be fair, we did record on Sunday, so technically, we’re right on both counts.
- There was a game called Beast of Black River. It’s over now, because the puppetmaster has met an untimely (fake, we hope) death. Well, at least it didn’t implode.
- The Million Penguin Project is an ambitious multi-author novel project that is ahead of its time. Read the site and form your own opinion if you don’t believe us.
- We welcome new writers at ARGNet. You might be surprised at who we managed to sign on.
Topic discussion
- TINAG. This Is Not A Game. What does it all mean? Lucky for you, we have authorities on the topic who are more than happy to talk about it.
- Viral marketing and the skeptics it’s creating. Sean brings in news of a stealthy Canadian hair products viral marketing campaign that had people arching eyebrows right from the get-go.
Listener Email
- molecularr sends in a great update about Monster Hunter Club that will be part of an update article at ARGNet later this week.
- Sylvia updates us as Meigeist and MHC continue to impress fans and players.
The End
- As the netcast was running a tad long, we tried to rush this through. We did mention ARGFest (all panel members will be attending) and the Colts’ win at SuperBowl XLI. There’s also a super secret announcement about ARGFest and the Netcast series.
Contact us at our special netcast email address, netcast@argn.com with your tips, suggestions, concerns and submissions. Call us on our ARGNet voicemail at 630-274-5425.
6 Comments Received
February 14th, 2007 @5:05 pm
Just a quick note, to tell you all that the addition of Nicko Demeter was AWESOME. This was my favorite netcast yet. Honestly. Even with the audio issues. (although this one was better than last week, audio-wise.)
Seriously, make Nicko a regular contributor if at all possible.
Great job, peeps… I miss y’all!
February 16th, 2007 @1:48 am
Quite frankly I’m disgusted with the attitude of the panel this week. It seems that they consider themselves the ‘authority’ on the ARG genre and therefore they have free reign to make biased, uneducated decisions about matters they know nothing about, then tell the whole world about their jaded opinions.
I think it’s sad that TIAG talks of perplex city have taken over this episode, and detracted from the glory that is endgame, and congratulations for Andy. Personal gripes with puppetmasters should be taken up with puppetmasters.
And as for the section on deus city..I’m not even going to bother asking if you know both sides of the story.
I think an appology is needed. It’s very easy to criticise, but it’s ironic that the panel seem to hold the authoritive opinion, when they’re always so increadibly wrong. Do any of them actually play any of the games mentioned this week?
February 16th, 2007 @3:48 am
It’s a bit sad that the week an ARG gives away £100,000 to a player you spend 20mins slagging off Perplex city without highlighting any positive aspects of it.
You’re not trying to ‘dump’ on Mind Candy however can’t think of a single good thing to say and start talking about the date websites were registered (what a dull thing to talk about); it all struck me as a little humourless.
February 16th, 2007 @1:53 pm
Great point from Larry Eisner there. It’s the same old song and dance from these ‘authorities’.
February 16th, 2007 @8:40 pm
I’m afraid to say that I have only just started reading Dave’s book Through the Rabbit Hole. I think it provides a great analogy for TINAG, ARG, and other information about the genre.
http://www.throughtherabbithole.net/
His first book “This is Not a Game” is still available via Amazon.com
I highly recommend both.
April 1st, 2007 @2:58 am
I have to say that I disagree with the one of the main point the podcasters made about the “this is not a game” philosophy.
The blurring of lines is the best thing about ARGs. If there is a very clear boundry as to what is in the game, then its very difficult to suspend your disbelief. If a person says “this is not a game,” but there is a clear way to establish that it is not real, then it very clearly is a game and it sort of degates the whole of idea of args. True it is “alternate reality”, but I am not sure what kind of game could be made where a community of sharp people interested in it could not determine that what is happening in game is not real.
This kind of blurry game could be termed a hoax, but if nothing has been lost, its better to think of it as entertainment. Or, more likely, a publicity stunt.
I see the casters’ interpretation of the philosophy as being that every puppetmaster should basically say, “I’ve got a real cool chat room and fake blog. But you guys have to promise that you won’t call it make-believe.” Which is neat and all, but ultimately not very interesting. Or perhaps its better to say that its no more interesting than any other form of fiction. I want the tiger.
And I want to be really convinced that people could be hurt. Or at least that interacting with the game world will matter, because it could actually be my world. It makes everything matter more and makes for a more engaged enaging experience for the players.
I do not know what games are out there that are like this now, but I sure there are some.
Lastly, if its possible to create a largely internet-based arg that is so real players are not sure if they should call the cops, an important message can be given to players when the game ends and the PM comes out and says “Yeah, that was all fake, please stop calling the cops.” Namely that message is that the internet is a great resource and a lot of fun, but ultimately it is malleable that whenever you see something with three w’s in front of it, your initial thought should be that it is not the truth. Esspecially if the website goes out of its way to assure you that everything on it is real and accurate.