Slashdot Mirror

Does the whole ARG movement seem too scary to anybody else? When suspension of disbelief in trade for deep alternate realities gets crossed with careful plot and planning by media marketing departments, I can't help but think of it as mind control at it's finest.

How far do these things have to go before your "game" calls you at night and players are no longer able to stop playing? As if Evercrack wan't bad enough. People lost jobs and friends over "The Beast" http://www.seanstewart.org/beast/intro/ and it's ilk. The whole idea is fascinating to any escapist mind (a large demographic on this site I'm sure), yet it is deeply troubling. I get a creepy "Total Recall" feeling when I think about actually stepping into one of these games. How easy would it be to hide criminal intent behind the thick veil of these "games"?

When we open our minds to these things we are leaving room for any corporation who cares to set them up (Microsoft having the most notable track record!) to lead us down whatever paths they choose, and we'll believe it because it's invaded our information flow. We'll get emails, faxes, phone calls; all exist only in the game world.

Anyway, there's some more interesting reading about these ideas in this paper. I hope I never see these mind traps on my news sites again, frankly.

Does the whole ARG movement seem too scary to anybody else? When suspension of disbelief in trade for deep alternate realities gets crossed with careful plot and planning by media marketing departments, I can't help but think of it as mind control at it's finest.

How far do these things have to go before your "game" calls you at night and players are no longer able to stop playing? As if Evercrack wan't bad enough. People lost jobs and friends over "The Beast" http://www.seanstewart.org/beast/intro/ and it's ilk. The whole idea is fascinating to any escapist mind (a large demographic on this site I'm sure), yet it is deeply troubling. I get a creepy "Total Recall" feeling when I think about actually stepping into one of these games. How easy would it be to hide criminal intent behind the thick veil of these "games"?

When we open our minds to these things we are leaving room for any corporation who cares to set them up (Microsoft having the most notable track record!) to lead us down whatever paths they choose, and we'll believe it because it's invaded our information flow. We'll get emails, faxes, phone calls; all exist only in the game world.

Anyway, there's some more interesting reading about these ideas in this paper. I hope I never see these mind traps on my news sites again, frankly.

That doesn't mean that it isn't fun to play along. It's strongly suspected that the designers of this latest "game" are the same folks who created "The Beast", which coincided with the release of A.I.. So, did it serve as a marketing tool for the movie? Probably. But for many people it was engaging and thought provoking in its own right.

And no, "The Beast" didn't culminate in a mass-email that said "Thanks for playing, now go see A.I!!". In fact, I don't think there were any direct references to the movie throught the course of the game (but the game arguably did take place in the A.I universe). I'm imagining the ilovebees thing will play out in the same way.

I know it's microsoft and as such we are required to hate it, but please try to keep an open mind.

Yeah, right. They got married. You really wanna call that the end of the story?

A friend of mine made a comment about one of the books he wrote:
"Most people expect the hero to go on a quest, free the princess, marry her and live happily ever after... I did that in the first 2 chapters, so that I could get on with the real story.

Yeah, right. They got married. You really wanna call that the end of the story?

A friend of mine made a comment about one of the books he wrote:
"Most people expect the hero to go on a quest, free the princess, marry her and live happily ever after... I did that in the first 2 chapters, so that I could get on with the real story.