[Dorkmaster]

"Pre-emptive Slippery Slope Attack!" From Whammo! ^(TM)



Admittedly, I edited the hell outta this post. But I had to maximize for comedic effect. Nothing says comedy like "whammo!"

[Phaedra]

krystyn wrote:

Phaedra wrote: Again, that's not quite what I'm talking about I know. But the discussions that have popped up in the past about this sort of thing tend to turn towards some sort of quick reference way of accomplishing this sort of categorization, so I was mocking the slippery slope pre-emptively.

Ah, clever of you.

[krystyn]

Phaedra wrote:

Again, that's not quite what I'm talking about

I know. But the discussions that have popped up in the past about this sort of thing tend to turn towards some sort of quick reference way of accomplishing this sort of categorization, so I was mocking the slippery slope pre-emptively.

[Phaedra]

vpisteve wrote:

I've tried to address that specifically with the "What's Hot" box at ARGN. This is a list of the top 5 or so games, based on perceived interest and activity, which I try to make as objective as possible. I do that by watching the forums, referrer logs, google search referrals, etc. Hmm, speaking of which, looks like it's time for an update.

Oooh!

Will check it out.

Is there a link to it here? Because maybe there should be. Like, up at the top.

[Phaedra]

krystyn wrote:

I think maybe I'd be leery of some mechanism where you'd have leetle icons for categorizing the games. A smiley face for happy games, perhaps, or a goth smiley for those dealing with the occult, or h4x0r topics. Maybe, you, know, a little envelope to indicate heavy e-mail interaction, with flames coming off the top if it's essentially role-playing through text exchanges with characters. A leetly round cartoony heart if you like romance, a tire-shaped artifact for Halo-related ARGs, and then a cookie-shaped icon if you're required to roll confections along sidewalks or something.

Again, that's not quite what I'm talking about -- I'm talking about "this game is heavily IRC-based, while this one has a gazillion websites and phone interaction. This one over here is a commercial game, while this one is a small grassroots game. And, btw, here in this forum, you may ask what trout is and we won't roll our eyes at you."

[Varin]

QBKooky wrote:

And Phaedra, the reason I avoided your "which game did you PM?" was because, frankly, I'm kind of embarrassed about it, and have tried to disconnect my name from the memory of the project for awhile... but oh well. *sighs* *coughCodename:Constellationcough*

Ah, there he goes again... trying to make it seem insignificant

A 13 year old putting on an ARG... by himself...in 2002...before most of us even knew what an ARG was?

Nothing to be embarassed by in my book.

[krystyn]

I think maybe I'd be leery of some mechanism where you'd have leetle icons for categorizing the games. A smiley face for happy games, perhaps, or a goth smiley for those dealing with the occult, or h4x0r topics. Maybe, you, know, a little envelope to indicate heavy e-mail interaction, with flames coming off the top if it's essentially role-playing through text exchanges with characters. A leetly round cartoony heart if you like romance, a tire-shaped artifact for Halo-related ARGs, and then a cookie-shaped icon if you're required to roll confections along sidewalks or something.

[vpisteve]

Phaedra wrote:

vpisteve wrote: Personally, rather than hold somebody's hand through the process, I've felt that pointing people in the right direction, giving them the tools, and then just letting them dive in is the most effective. A big part of ARG fun is the disovery process, it gives you a feeling of accomplishment. In fact, that's kind of been the underlying point of this whole ARGN thing. Not that there aren't things we could do better. Okay, but it still seems to me like you're focusing on players who come in here in order to play a specific game. In that case, yes, it's the responsibility of the PMs to make their particular game accessible. But again, I'm talking about the people who show up here going, "Ooh! I want to play an ARG! Which one should I play?"

I've tried to address that specifically with the "What's Hot" box at ARGN. This is a list of the top 5 or so games, based on perceived interest and activity, which I try to make as objective as possible. I do that by watching the forums, referrer logs, google search referrals, etc. Hmm, speaking of which, looks like it's time for an update.

[krystyn]

Also, ummmmmm, I neglected to include Andy in my earlier list because he was too busy working on Labyrinth to come pose sexily and then run away.

I'm actually not kidding about that. He messaged me this weekend, and wouldn't even tell me what new stuff he was working on, but he's super-excited. How cool is that?

[krystyn]

Hmm, Phaedra, your point is a bit clearer, but I think it would be really, really difficult to pull something like that off without putting too much of your own spin on a game, or possibly selling the game short.

Most of the major structure and information delivery of ilovebees involved those damnable payphones (sort of kidding! ha! ha! ha. ahem.), BUT there were also puzzles that suddenly cropped up as the game shifted to accomodate the frustration levels experienced by those who felt the payphones made the game inaccessible to them. Additionally, there was the whole Widow's Journey story/SPDR code puzzle, which, when I explained it to one guy on August 24th as we were running around chasing payphones, was completely new information to him -- even though he'd been looking at the website and reading the text bits everywhere. I think we'd all have a different 'reason' for liking ilovebees, or a different description of it.

One of my favorite things about working on Lockjaw was to have that world-famous codebreaker guy come in and solve that cipher that was plaguing everyone for days on end, and then he STAYED and continued to analyzed the hell out of the STORY. I think he caught every last reference and joke at the Moreland website, stuff that most of the players never, ever remarked upon.

I dunno. It seems like a Rorschach effort, as noble as it is. You know?

[Phaedra]

QBKooky wrote:

And Phaedra, the reason I avoided your "which game did you PM?" was because, frankly, I'm kind of embarrassed about it, and have tried to disconnect my name from the memory of the project for awhile... but oh well. *sighs* *coughCodename:Constellationcough*

Well, don't worry. I never heard of it. So I have no negative associations.

[Phaedra]

Varin wrote:

Phaedra wrote: All I'm saying is maybe we could put a stack of kickboards by the entrance to the pool compound? Wow, that triggered some weird blocked memory from when I was a kid. Some girl pulled her kickboard under the water and let it go, shooting it into the air and then right into my face. Ouch.

That might have been me. I really liked to do that when I was little.

[Ozy_y2k]

Wolf wrote:

"one player's lifeline may be another player's broken nose."

Didn't Wongmo originally say that?

[Wolf]

Ah, metaphor...

Quote:

Some girl pulled her kickboard under the water and let it go, shooting it into the air and then right into my face.

That sums it up pretty well, actually--"one player's lifeline may be another player's broken nose."

[QBKooky]

Phaedra wrote:

The other thing that might help is to have a generalized "Newcomers" forum, where newbies could ask general questions and get advice about the nature (and any caveats) about the currently-running games.

I really like this idea. 'Nuff said.

And Phaedra, the reason I avoided your "which game did you PM?" was because, frankly, I'm kind of embarrassed about it, and have tried to disconnect my name from the memory of the project for awhile... but oh well.

*sighs* *coughCodename:Constellationcough*

PS: I was only 13 at the time. ...although, reading on what I wrote then, it kind of rings true for this discussion. Hhhinteresting.