Post by Terryfic on Oct 20, 2006 16:41:32 GMT -5
Now that CasseIsWatching is watching is pretty much officially dead, even the cassholes have given up hope. I thought it might be interesting to start a conversation on how you would run the show/ARG differently. Imagine you made the first video and suddenly got all this attention, where would you have taken the story after that.
My CiW story would have been a much more meta one, one where the game is about it being a game. It would have started off very similar, with no one going to get the first drop (as there really wasn’t one) for a few days until a star player (actually an actor, think Cu meets the marine) goes to get the clue. This star player makes a stylish video, similar to Cu’s and he discovers, like Cu did in the real ciw, that the clue as already been stolen and someone is trying to gamejack.
The next video wouldn’t have a drop attached but it would direct people towards a phone number (much as how CiW did). This would contain a message that would have a clue, or number that would be needed for the next drop. But shortly after the phone number is found it would be game jacked as well. Perhaps having the message be replaced with something creepy or just plain silly. Make it clear that it was again gamejacked.
The third video would again have a drop. This video would show where the drop was, but you would need the clue from the audio phone message to get the clue. The star player, would just happen to be online when this video is uploaded. He recognizes the drop location very quickly and sets out towards it. Once at the site he continues to talk with members at the forums (via text messages or something) until they figure out together where the clue is. Once again the star player is making a video of him trying to find the clue. As he is leaving the site a car almost hits him but he is able to jump out of the way. This shot is included in the video he posts.
The next video that is uploaded is really amateurish and in no way in the same style as the other videos. It largely just says how this whole thing is stupid and how the author hates lonelygirl15. A few hours later this video is taken down. Then the GM of the game makes a video out of character, saying that he use to go to the river used in the LG vid and just recognized it and thought it would be fun to make an ARG. He talks about how he isn’t related to the Creators, but just wanted to add to the Breeverse. He also talks about someone has been constantly harassing him and gamejacking and how they hacked his YouTube account and posted the amateurish video. He is sick of the harassment and has decided to just stop the game. He thanks everyone for playing and is sorry it had to end this way.
A few days later he uploads another video, this one directed just at the gamejacker. He talks about how late last night someone threw a brick through his window. He suspects the gamejacker, and has called the police. He was even able to grab some quick shots of the person as they drove off. The car in the photographs is the same one that almost hit the star player when he was at the second drop. From here on out the game is about trying to hunt down and stop this gamejacker.
I thought this might be an interesting way to further blur the lines between game and reality, which seems to be the bread a butter of an ARG. It also allows the ARG to use the popularity of LG to get it some initial attention, but is quickly able to distance itself from LG so it no longer relies on it. It seems that was the major problem with the real CiW, the people behind it expected LG to do something big on the 12th and when they didn’t their story was broken.
My CiW story would have been a much more meta one, one where the game is about it being a game. It would have started off very similar, with no one going to get the first drop (as there really wasn’t one) for a few days until a star player (actually an actor, think Cu meets the marine) goes to get the clue. This star player makes a stylish video, similar to Cu’s and he discovers, like Cu did in the real ciw, that the clue as already been stolen and someone is trying to gamejack.
The next video wouldn’t have a drop attached but it would direct people towards a phone number (much as how CiW did). This would contain a message that would have a clue, or number that would be needed for the next drop. But shortly after the phone number is found it would be game jacked as well. Perhaps having the message be replaced with something creepy or just plain silly. Make it clear that it was again gamejacked.
The third video would again have a drop. This video would show where the drop was, but you would need the clue from the audio phone message to get the clue. The star player, would just happen to be online when this video is uploaded. He recognizes the drop location very quickly and sets out towards it. Once at the site he continues to talk with members at the forums (via text messages or something) until they figure out together where the clue is. Once again the star player is making a video of him trying to find the clue. As he is leaving the site a car almost hits him but he is able to jump out of the way. This shot is included in the video he posts.
The next video that is uploaded is really amateurish and in no way in the same style as the other videos. It largely just says how this whole thing is stupid and how the author hates lonelygirl15. A few hours later this video is taken down. Then the GM of the game makes a video out of character, saying that he use to go to the river used in the LG vid and just recognized it and thought it would be fun to make an ARG. He talks about how he isn’t related to the Creators, but just wanted to add to the Breeverse. He also talks about someone has been constantly harassing him and gamejacking and how they hacked his YouTube account and posted the amateurish video. He is sick of the harassment and has decided to just stop the game. He thanks everyone for playing and is sorry it had to end this way.
A few days later he uploads another video, this one directed just at the gamejacker. He talks about how late last night someone threw a brick through his window. He suspects the gamejacker, and has called the police. He was even able to grab some quick shots of the person as they drove off. The car in the photographs is the same one that almost hit the star player when he was at the second drop. From here on out the game is about trying to hunt down and stop this gamejacker.
I thought this might be an interesting way to further blur the lines between game and reality, which seems to be the bread a butter of an ARG. It also allows the ARG to use the popularity of LG to get it some initial attention, but is quickly able to distance itself from LG so it no longer relies on it. It seems that was the major problem with the real CiW, the people behind it expected LG to do something big on the 12th and when they didn’t their story was broken.
