tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post6432834341504016564..comments2009-11-18T03:10:40.923-08:00Comments on emac4326 at UTD: WK6 (9-25) - ARG IN CONTEXTDoc Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07502324749442258087noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post-62948064611607678652008-10-02T14:36:00.000-07:002008-10-02T14:36:00.000-07:00Very interesting stuff Andrew. I think you hit the...Very interesting stuff Andrew. I think you hit the nail on the nose with your idea of the suspension of Disbelief. We got a look at that idea in the game. It was so real for him. He had went and signed up for the game and he still let himself get wrapped up into it. I think the unwilling suspension of disbelief could possibly be one of the best experiences.Zen Almasrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16715628078364031237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post-73615078111687916062008-10-02T14:10:00.000-07:002008-10-02T14:10:00.000-07:00GOOGLE PURGEIf it cannot be archived it cannot exi...GOOGLE PURGE<BR/>If it cannot be archived it cannot exist.<BR/><BR/>http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40076Andrew Stallingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16899326987677953725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post-42837271788395711862008-10-02T12:10:00.000-07:002008-10-02T12:10:00.000-07:00I was unimpressed with the chapter on collaboratio...I was unimpressed with the chapter on collaboration. Maybe it should have just been titled differently--it was really about project management. Truly collaborating with creative minds is art so I was looking for the meat and potatos Matheny had promised. Mostly I was left with the impression that in the end someone has to make the decisions and put the hammer down. I see the wisdom in this, but the chapter was misleading as a discussion about collaboration. <BR/><BR/>For the benefit of any PM project leader, it would be nice to learn more specific techniques for inspiring creative problem solving among a group of people with diverse talents. How do you make it "safe" within a diverse group to have bad ideas? How do you let the good ideas rise to the top without personal attachments? How do you mitigate personality conflicts? How do you fire someone from a team without losing morale?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post-75005016246196769292008-10-01T23:38:00.000-07:002008-10-01T23:38:00.000-07:00Ben Mack writes that “when an audience feels safe,...Ben Mack writes that “when an audience feels safe, respected and cared for, their minds loosen and the defenses drop” (Mack 331). He’s writing about misdirection in magic an the ability to create sight retention, but this applies to ARGs as well. Tell players a puzzle is too hard and you are saying they can’t do something. But make the puzzle exceptionally easy and you are calling them idiots. So where’s the happy medium?<BR/><BR/>Dee Cook explains that her team “tried to have specific reasons to include the game puzzles, studying character motivation to determine why he or she would obscure data behind a puzzle solve” (Cook 315). This says the team has enough faith in the player base not to assume they are idiots who will just run to puzzles. But, there’s a flip side to this. What happens if the puzzle is too difficult?<BR/><BR/>Paul Melamud describes a puzzle he created. He says he had to understand the theme, style, etc., for which he was creating (Melamud 318). He went through themes, made puzzle chains, gave the players a reason to make a huge leap from touch language to audio, then appears to gotten impatient. Yes, the players had to solve specific puzzles in order to progress, but isn’t putting a time limit on them kind of assuming they won’t get it eventually?<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Melamud’s leap from touch (Braille) to audio (chords) seems pretty big, but the collaborative solving power of the ARG community is expected to be able to make that leap. But Melamud goes on to explain that the community didn’t solve the puzzle. At least, not on its own. “On October 4, 2004, our team decided to encourage the players by having an in-game character (who had been befriended by the players to help get to the bottom of the mystery, and who often posted his ‘discoveries’ on his website)” post another hint (Melamud 324-325). The PM’s put up a paragraph about the puzzle and what the character had discovered on the characters site. A day later, the puzzle was solved (Melamud 325). <BR/><BR/>Isn’t this like seeding the story and moving toward controlling the timetable? I thought part of the ARG was the solve, and if it took a while, so be it. While Melamud’s team was able to maintain the illusion by staying behind the curtain, it seems they created another illusion – the illusion that players solved the puzzle. That doesn’t come across as the safety, respect and caring about which Mack speaks. Where is the line?Candiluuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02227476271351520661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post-23322486933148747292008-09-29T11:34:00.000-07:002008-09-29T11:34:00.000-07:00On the subject of ImprovEverwhere...Szulborski tou...On the subject of ImprovEverwhere...Szulborski touches on the "smart mob" concept in the TINAG book, which is actually what ImprovEverywhere does. <BR/><BR/>The 'smart mob' is, according to the reading, a group of people who are part of some online community who meet up in the real world for a specific purpose. Szulborski mentions the gatherings around the payphones for the ILOVEBEES game that took place, which relates to the ImprovEverywhere MP3 event with the dart board and freeze tag. <BR/><BR/>In both cases, the events called for real people meet up at a real location to be a part of the event, thus creating a 'smart mob'. In the case of ImprovEverywhere and ILOVEBEES, it worked out as intended. But Szulborski warns of the serious real world implications of an ARG using these sort of events.<BR/><BR/>When does the event go from being 'in-game' to 'out-of-game' and can the players' (or even bystanders) reactions to the in-game events that unfold in front of them really be predicted?<BR/><BR/>It's intresting to me that, throughout the book, Szulborski hammers away at the idea of TINAG. But it seems that at the end of the book, he emphasizes that PMs should be extremely careful to ensure that the players know that it is actually a game and that they understand the boundaries of the game.robertreynolds86https://www.blogger.com/profile/14945604636785177925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post-56627140054984401012008-09-26T15:03:00.000-07:002008-09-26T15:03:00.000-07:00@andrew - Your analysis of ImprovEverywhere is awe...@andrew - Your analysis of ImprovEverywhere is awesome. You've made the same connection to ARG that the guys at <A HREF="http://sf0.org/" REL="nofollow">SFZero</A> made.Doc Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07502324749442258087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post-43287159898581218882008-09-26T13:20:00.000-07:002008-09-26T13:20:00.000-07:00Two things that the Boss wanted me to post.I have ...Two things that the Boss wanted me to post.<BR/><BR/>I have to disagree with the idea that crowds cannot be controlled. Governments do it all the time. <BR/> <BR/>One way to force the players down a specific path is to provide them with the illusion of choice. A shill if you will.<BR/><BR/>Imagine that I give a group of people a map and tell them that they can go anywhere. At this point I have no idea where they will go.<BR/><BR/>But if someone speaks up and says that they are going to place X, then I can assume with confidence that 50% of people will follow him; however that still leaves ~50% that could go anywhere.<BR/><BR/>So consider if two people speak up. Person X will go to location X and person Y will go to location Y. Now I have 99% of the people because humans still work on a largely herd based mentality. You now only have to worry about 1% of players choosing a third option. 1% is small enough that you can be ignore them or babysit them to the point where they will follow the herd.<BR/><BR/>Now both X and Y are agents, their job is to play the game but direct the players along the predetermined route.<BR/><BR/>It gives people the illusion of choice.<BR/><BR/>In Game characters can't post META it's in the rules. But why is that? It breaks one illusion but it opens the door for an even greater illusion. Paranoia is fun, horror movies are immensely popular. Get people to think that they are influencing RL events not just in game... they'll be hooked.<BR/><BR/>While technically sorta illegal if you can fake an injury have it reported in the news... it'd be like The Game. They wouldn't be able to leave.<BR/><BR/><BR/>And second I a while ago I found a real life pre computer form of the internet. <BR/><BR/>SCIENCE | June 17, 2008<BR/>The Web Time Forgot<BR/><BR/>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/science/17mund.html?ex=1214452800&en=97bf0d89d01f76bc&ei=5070&emc=eta1<BR/><BR/>By ALEX WRIGHT<BR/><BR/>The Mundaneum Museum honors the first concept of a world wide wonder, sketched out by Paul Otlet in 1934 as a global network of “electric telescopes.”Andrew Stallingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16899326987677953725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5841211942697644151.post-40381343279592041252008-09-26T13:14:00.000-07:002008-09-26T13:14:00.000-07:00We talked about the willing suspension of disbelie...We talked about the willing suspension of disbelief, but we didn't talk about the unwilling suspension of disbelief. I would define this as when the unbelievable is forced upon us. An athiest gets into a taxi, it's driven by God. God proves himself and the athiest is forced to believe. The athiest can no longer believe in his old reality, he is now in an alternate reality.<BR/><BR/>I've realized something. I define alternate reality in a distinctly different way as compared to the unForum-ers. They aren't very good at looking at themselves nor thinking laterally.<BR/><BR/>I see reality as the rules and boundaries of the world as well as the current world story. <BR/><BR/>example:<BR/><BR/>One of the rules of this reality is that normal people wear pants. Improv Everywhere comes along and has a no pants subway ride. It's not nudists it's not exhibitionists it's normal people who for a brief time are no longer obeying this reality's rules. They become the denizens of an alternate reality developed within our current reality. <BR/><BR/>Alternate Reality Games have players interacting with a "alternate Reality" that is in fact a game. It's fake. No one believes in it. No one holds both of them as true.<BR/><BR/>The alternate reality propagated by Improv Everywhere creates cognitive dissonance. Onlookers begin to question their reality while players get to experience a new one.<BR/><BR/>AndrewAndrew Stallingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16899326987677953725noreply@blogger.com