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Who are Playing ARG's? Retards. That's who.
· Written by Andrew · Monday, 14 September 2009 12:34 ·
Sherlock_DumbassAbout a month ago I wrote a piece on Alternate Reality Gaming and my disgust with the genre because it's nothing more than advertising for big business. The response was mixed to say the least, and there was a heavy response from the ARG community who took offense to having their pastime labelled as marketing towards tools. Of course the worst part is that they actively participate, hence the label tools. None the less they tried to defend their bruised ego's, and left some interesting info in the comments for anyone looking to find out more about independent ARG's, but the sad thing is that these Mickey Mouse endeavours they cling to so dearly are even worse than Big Corporate shoving a shit sandwich down your throat while calling it gaming.

So if my only complaint last time was that ARG's were "nothing more than an elaborate promotional campaign" then why wouldn't a community full of independent stories and players be a good thing? Quite frankly because the games they are playing sound boring, poorly planned and haphazardly executed. Everyone and their cats uncle wants to be a Puppet Master and design their own ARG it seems. They are pretentious and egomaniacle enough to think they can construct an alternate universe so engaging and encompassing that they'll blow people's minds with their creativity and intelligence. Probably not going to happen. Sadly, without a large organization to orchestrate the game, the full scope of "falling down the rabbit hole" simply cannot be realized. And there is the catch 22; because no organization is going to do it for free, so it just becomes an advertisement. You've either got crap or ads, your choice. There aren't 78 other options.

Now I'm sure there have been some valiant efforts in the past, but when you head over to the popular ARG site UnFiction you find that every third post is some moron trying to get people to play their new ARG, and every fourth post is someone telling them not to post links to new ARG's or hooks, and stop logging in under secondary accounts to prod along their own failed endeavour. Just read through some of the comments from the previous article and see the riff-raff that come out of the weeds. Granted there were some intelligent posts, some even slightly informative, but the majority of posts were dumber than the average 11year old on YouTube. You idiots who can't turn your CAPS lock key off are the same idiots who are trying to start your own ARG which is why independent ARG's are just as bad as corporate ones. If you continue to flood the community with your garbage it's never going to get respect amongst the gaming community.

I read a quote once from someone named Jordan Weisman, I believe he worked for a company that orchestrates large ARG's, and he had this very insightful take on gaming:
"Games are about engaging with the most entertaining thing on the planet, which is other people."
Now I can't help but think he's right, no computer is ever as fun as playing against your friends, but you still have to have a game that's fun to begin with, not just some retard trying to mindfuck you and trick you into making you think he's smarter than you, then call it a "game". That's just not cool, that's just someone's ego trip. With the right planning and motives, along with a good group of friends (not internet friends who are 9 but say they are 33) an ARG could be a pretty cool experience. Right now the swamp of shit out there is just too thick to wade through, but maybe they'll figure it out someday. And don't think that this article is some elaborate hook, because it's not. You won't find any game beyond this link.
tags: ARG ยท Unreality

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avatar deh poppets
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your lame attempt at a hook is lame
Tuesday 15 September 2009, 10:16
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avatar Geralyn
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I didn't know where to find this info then koaobm it was here.
Friday 02 September 2011, 08:23
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avatar Dina
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Whoever wrote this, you know how to make a good airctle.
Sunday 04 September 2011, 05:51
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avatar truthseeker
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anyone else notice the number sequences? I saw 22, 11 and 33, so started browsing more, found the timestamp 123456 odd (placed) and there is also a 7, 8 and 9. Whats the next progression, 44?
Tuesday 15 September 2009, 10:22
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avatar xPikaChoWx
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i dunno, but the link is to a halo site and I know that microsoft and bungie did viral marketing for halo and there is a halo movie coming out and peter jackson is no stranger to special effects and cool shit like arg's and I would totally get into more halo universe stuff cause I think the movie will have great backstory and the game with the people could give good backstory too cause I also saw there was other movies recently a lot that are doing other promotions like district9 and stuff
Tuesday 15 September 2009, 13:08
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