ARG Netcast, Episode 32: The Buzz

 ARG Netcast, Episode 32: The Buzz [64:45m]: Play in Popup | Download

Catch the buzz of episode 32 as Jonathan Waite (owner of ARGNet) is joined by Unfiction owner Sean C. Stacey, ARGNet staff writer Celina Beach, and Tony Walsh of Secret Lair/Clickable Culture. The discussions are indepth and informative — this one is not to be missed! Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through this link or via iTunes. Contact us at our special netcast email address, netcast@argnetcast.info with your tips, suggestions, concerns and submissions. Call us on the ARGNet voicemail at 630-274-5425.

News Items of the Week

• Remsy Atassi, the sole puppetmaster of Frank Sturgis, a game we reported on during last week’s netcast, posted a rather polite message in the UnFiction forums announcing the end of the game due to personal issues. While it’s regrettable that games implode, at least the players have a clear sense of what happened to the game.
• In a new trailhead, we were introduced to Gabriel Lawson, who may possibly deal with aliens. At the same time, we found out about A Prophecy of Stars which deals with a guy named Colby who’s having weird dreams. Earlier this week players began to suspect the two games were the same, news that was later confirmed by Colby.
• Unfiction administrators have done some tinkering with the forums, incorporating the term Chaotic Fiction in the organizational structure. Today, we’ll talk to Sean Stacey about what the changes mean.
• Looking for a Creative Commons world to use in your own creations? Take a peek at Eric Rice’s Saijo City Project.
• For the last few months, players of Deus City have been hearing tales of a mysterious murderer known as the “God Killer” who causes people’s deaths and makes it look like an accident. Yesterday, one of the six senators we know of in Deus City (2037), Thomas Mercer, was struck by lightning on the 18th hole of a golf course. The news article about it led players to a short narrative where the God Killer confesses to being the cause, and indicates this is only the beginning.

Topic Discussion
With the recent reorganization of the Unfiction forums, we talk with Sean C. Stacey about Chaotic Fiction and how work is done behind-the-scenes to keep the largest ARG community resource running smoothly.

As a recent J.J. Abrams movie trailer kicked off a slew of speculative blog and forum postings across the world, we figure it’s a good time to catch up with the buzz of… buzz. What makes buzz effective? How buzz has been created in the past? What sorts of promotion has worked on panel members in the past, and what ideas do our panelists have regarding future innovations in buzz creation? These answers (and more) are discussed in the second half of the episode.