[Cu Roi]

Well well well...that looks like a field op to me. Wonder if it's actually from the"Creators". Heh.

Who cares. Did someone grab the coordinates? There seems to have been a link to an aerial view, showing the exact area the lake is in.

I'll head out as soon as I have a destination.

Help?

[HaxanMike]

Unfortunately, I don't think these guys have really thought out all the possibilities for how to tell their story. I think they started up using YouTube as a distribution method, no more, and then stumbled into the process of responding to people through the story as they went along.

Once the meta question of who is behind it and why was answered, there sure isn't much left to chew on, is there?

[bethen]

Supposedly this has been linked from the official site's forums (which I'm having trouble accessing), as relating to the "Swimming" video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IcYUifgEfw&NR

I'm admittedly new to this whole thing, but that sounds like a possibility for interaction to me. (And to this guy too, I guess: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLtcpg6vL2A )

[Cu Roi]

Quote:

You lose iron when you lose blood.

Yep. It's also recommended to take during a pregnancy, as your blood volume increases 50%. Not that I think she's pregnant. I'm just say'n.

[addlepated]

Cu Roi wrote:

Hrmmm...in the new video she's taking an iron supplement, presumably as part of her diet for the "ritual". Wonder what for. Time to google.

You lose iron when you lose blood.

[Cu Roi]

Hrmmm...in the new video she's taking an iron supplement, presumably as part of her diet for the "ritual".

Wonder what for. Time to google.

[Cu Roi]

I agree that there was far too much noise for them to do anything more at this point. I can't imagine trying to filter through a thousand email a day. They should have intituted a proper rabbit-hole, one that would weed out all but the dedicated ARGers and allowed the public a subtle yet firm nudge. One that said plainly "This is not a game."

Of course that would have had to be thier intention at the outset, and it doesn't appear that was the case. Makes me pout.

It would need to have the same kind of personal touch as Last Call or ILB. All of my emails for LCP where answered by a real person posing as the Dealer. Look at how involved Kristen was with the community! Even though only a lucky handful were able to speak directly to her, we all got to share in it. It doesn't take much, just the knowledge that there's some interaction going on. A little reciprocation is all that's needed.

It's been fun, though, and I hope it continues. I want to see what they had planned for Bree. This is the seed for a really cool ARG. Mix in some vids with all the traditional ARG aspects and you've got a shiny new facet to communicate the story to the players. I like the field ops myself. I like to go out and do things hands on.

[oxdeltaxo]

Cu Roi wrote:

It's truely sad it appears that the deepest level of "interaction" was being able to sublety influence the storyline, there's not really any overt reciprocation on their part. Poorly done.

I have to agree, although I think that it could only really be subtley influenced because of the massive quantity of fans and participants. ARGs usually have maybe a few hundred to a few thousand, she had tens of thousands.Also with an ARG the level of interaction you could expect is a chatbot and an automailer, with lg15 it would need to be a little more personal but at the same time speak to the hearts and minds of thousands.

Personally I think the concept could be integrated into an arg, just not the through the same plot line or demographic which lg15 catered to.

[aliendial]

CNBC just aired a piece on this, including brief interviews with the 3 creators. They, of course, are looking for a movie deal. They didn't manage to track down Jessica. Yet.

[boredfairy]

Is it bad that I'm still hoping for some crazy twist to make it more ARGy?

[Cu Roi]

Professional lighting doesn't really imply expensive equipment, just the knowledge of how to accomplish the effect. You'd be surprised how low tech the movie industry gets.

It's truely sad it appears that the deepest level of "interaction" was being able to sublety influence the storyline, there's not really any overt reciprocation on their part. Poorly done. It's still strange that even though it's all out in the open, now that the curtain has been ripped down, that they haven't addressed the subject through a channel indisputably their own. Like putting out an apology through the actress. That would kill so much of the negative backlash.

The only thing that ever annoyed me about this whole thing, aside from so much potential yet no real ARG materializing, is their claims that what they're doing is a "new" art form. The declaration makes it sound as if they were the originators. It's been done before and excecuted better.

Of course all the strange tags and allusions that seem like real rabbit-holes will keep me looking til this thing reaches the end.

[kmduke]

Well now that the cat is out of the bag I've lost all interest, is that bad?

Was reading the latimes article on this and found it funny how in all of our speculating we were way off the mark. Especially those saying it was professional lighting and cameras, the article states

Quote:

Two desk lamps (one broken), an open window and a $130 camera

was the equipment required

For those ARG creators out there please take this concept and run with it, it had me hooked.

[Ehsan]

And another article on nytimes.

[addlepated]

And more pics...

http://www.neopets.com/~ziegs_baby

[GuyIncognito]

Heh...according to her MySpace, she hates "fake people". Go figure...