1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,959 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how Stuff Workstop coming, Hello everybody, and 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette and 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: I'm the tech editor here at how stuff works dot com. 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 1: Sitting across from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: Hey there, Crispy, you know the baron wants to talk 8 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: to you. Baron, Yes, he said it was urgent, but 9 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,879 Speaker 1: that sounds even worse. Yes, apparently you have to get 10 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: to Cairo by midnight. That doesn't but I have improv 11 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 1: workshop tonight. That's it's too late. That's all improvise. UM. 12 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: So you might be wondering what we were just doing. 13 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: I was because we didn't talk about that before I 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: started recording. I just sort of thought about it based 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: on the topic that we picked for to right, the 16 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: topic that was suggested by a listener. So let me 17 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: read this and introduce is a brand new segment. Yes, ready, 18 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: it's listener tweets. Yes, this listener tweet comes from Emily, 19 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: and Emily, aside from being totally awesome, said I think 20 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: we need a podcast on alternate reality games, and I agree, Emily. 21 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: So this is it. We're gonna talk about alternate reality games, 22 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: which are a very interesting, sometimes peculiar, incredibly addictive form 23 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 1: of gaming. It's also considered a form of marketing in 24 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: a lot of instances. Well, yeah, there are a lot 25 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: of a lot of the alternate reality games that are 26 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: out there are actually part of some sort of marketing 27 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: uh strategy. As a matter of fact, the very first 28 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: one I read about, the very first one. There was 29 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: one that went before the major one, but there's one 30 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: that's credited as starting off the entire uh fad. So 31 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: but we'll we'll get into that first. Let's kind of 32 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: try and explain what reality game is. This a little complicated, 33 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: all right. So you've got role playing games, and in 34 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: role playing games, you take on the role of a 35 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: character living in some other world and you try to 36 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: have that character achieve certain goals and achieve certain tasks, um, 37 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: in very in some format. Yeah, and um, the point 38 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,079 Speaker 1: of a role playing game is to imagine what it's 39 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 1: like to be that person. So, I mean, if you're 40 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: playing somebody who may not be able to smell very well, 41 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: and you get in a situation where everyone else might 42 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: smell something deadly like you, yeah, but you totally don't 43 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: notice because you can't smell well exactly, thanks, but I'm saying, 44 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: you know, you have to imagine what it's like to 45 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: be in that person's shoes, and so you might know. 46 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:50,359 Speaker 1: They might say the person who's running a game might say, 47 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: you know, this deadly thing is waiting around the corner 48 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: for you know, what are you gonna do? And you 49 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: have to go, well, you know, my character has no 50 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: idea that that's there. What am I know? My character 51 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: would walk through the door because he doesn't know what's 52 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:07,679 Speaker 1: going on, right, and everyone else is saying, no, leroy, no, 53 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: he's back Lee Rod Jenkins. Um. Yeah. The so the 54 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: idea behind a role playing game again is that you're 55 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,920 Speaker 1: playing a role and there are all yes, exactly, there 56 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: are all sorts of role playing games there. You know. 57 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: Of course, Dungeons and Dragons is the one that that 58 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:26,919 Speaker 1: people bust out all the time because it was sort 59 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: of the role playing game. Um, it was certainly played 60 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: a very important part in my childhood. And then there's 61 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: those you know, role playing games that they get you 62 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: to do for a team building and you're, you know, 63 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: company when the stairs and go. Okay, so you're trying 64 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: to sell your car, right? Those are far more fun 65 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: than No, okay, no they're not. No, they're not fun 66 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: at all. Please stop doing that. I used to work 67 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: for a company that used to do those. Um yeah, 68 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: I'm not proud of that. So alternate reality games, it's different. 69 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: That's slightly different. Now. Alternate reality games what they do 70 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: is they span two worlds. There's a fantasy world in 71 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: which the game is actually kind of a real a 72 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: real thing, all right, and then there's the real world 73 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: where it's a game. It's yeah, that's the whole point 74 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: of the alternate reality game. So let's say, let me 75 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: give you an example. I'll give you the example. The 76 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: first game that really launched alternate reality games, which was 77 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:29,359 Speaker 1: commonly known as The Beast. Now. The Beast was part 78 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:33,600 Speaker 1: of a viral marketing campaign for the movie AI, the 79 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:39,119 Speaker 1: Kubrick Spielberg film with um, what's his face in it? 80 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:45,600 Speaker 1: Haley Joe Osmond? M Um, well, where's he been anyway? 81 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: So Haley Joe Osmond playing this little robot character blah 82 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:54,840 Speaker 1: blah blah. Really interesting. Kubrick's last film, uh, What got 83 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: a lot of people interested in this movie, wasn't the preview, 84 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: wasn't the poster? Well kind of wise, but for the 85 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: reason Head gears, it's because there were little clues left 86 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: behind that something weird was connected to this movie, and 87 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,839 Speaker 1: the the marketers kind of took a big gamble, uh 88 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: and hoped that people would notice the weird stuff and 89 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: that that would precipitate this alternate reality game. And it did. 90 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: If you looked at the poster, if you looked at 91 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: the credits that were listed on the previews, you started 92 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: to see odd little messages, and by putting it together, 93 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: you began to find out that there was a murder 94 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: mystery connected to this world that the movie is about. 95 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: If you played a little bit longer, you would discover 96 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: that the mystery exists in a world that's forty years 97 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 1: after the main events of the film. AI all right, so, uh, 98 00:05:55,520 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: you know that's the mystery inhabits this this fictional world old. 99 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: But as you start to play, you begin to have 100 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:07,799 Speaker 1: an impact on this fictional world, and ultimately you begin 101 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 1: to be able to contact people within this fictional world 102 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: and they can contact you, and you become an active 103 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: participant in a game that again exists in a in 104 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: a world of fantasy, but it's bled over into the 105 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:23,239 Speaker 1: world of reality to the point where some people playing 106 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: the game might get a phone call or a text 107 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: message or facts three in the morning and it would 108 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: have something to do with this game, and then by 109 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: following the instructions or solving a puzzle, they would get 110 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:38,520 Speaker 1: further along and get one step closer to solving the mystery. 111 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: So it's completely immersive. It is incredibly immersive in a way. 112 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: It kind of changes your life into an action movie 113 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: because you become a character who, through your actions, you 114 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 1: can make a big impact on this this story, and 115 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: it feels like you're suddenly in the Bourne identity or something. 116 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: It's amazing because you know, you get the feeling like 117 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: you're really important. Yeah, you're no longer some person who's 118 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: just saying they're looking at a computer. You're helping solve 119 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 1: a murder. Yeah. Yeah, and I imagine it. It's no 120 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: good for productivity either, probably not, And it was really 121 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: not good from my product. Let's say that, all right, 122 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: So let me let me give a few more um 123 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: definitions before we get too far. So within the game, 124 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: you have the people who are running the game, and 125 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: they're commonly known as puppet masters. Now, these are the 126 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: people who know the storyline. They know the the route 127 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: that the story is supposed to take that's important to 128 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: note supposed to take, and they know the solutions to 129 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: the puzzles that they are giving out, and they know 130 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: what the next logical steps should be once you figure 131 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: out the puzzle. So they're the ones running the game. 132 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: They're kind of the game master or dungeon master that 133 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: we would think of in a in a role playing game, 134 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: you have the curtain. The curtain is the the veil 135 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: that covers the puppet masters, right, so it's essentially the 136 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: the level of of obscurity the puppet masters put up 137 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: so that players don't see behind the curtains see how 138 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: the game works, and therefore solve the game unfairly. Actually, 139 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: I heard UM. I heard I read as I was 140 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: doing my research for this podcast that UM that curtain 141 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: is is basically critical to the game and because otherwise, 142 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: without UM, it basically has to take itself very seriously, 143 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: because otherwise the illusion is ruined. Even if even if 144 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: it's not necessarily promotional vehicle as not tied, if it's 145 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 1: just a game. If it if it stops taking itself 146 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: seriously and you can actually see what's going on, it's 147 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: it's a lot more fun if you take it, if 148 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: you pretend that you're part of this work exactly, it's 149 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: I would I would say that it's almost exactly the 150 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: same thing as being able to enjoy a magic trick. Now, 151 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:57,240 Speaker 1: if you're watching a magic trick and you're enjoying it, 152 00:08:57,640 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: you know that there's a trick there. You know there's 153 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: an lusion, there's some sort of misdirection, there's something going 154 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: on that is tricking you so that the effect that's 155 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: being achieved appears to be magical, but deep down you 156 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: know that it's not really magic. And you could find 157 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 1: out how it works, and then you might be able 158 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: to appreciate the skill with which the magician executes the trick, 159 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: but it's not magical anymore because now you know how 160 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 1: it works. And the same thing with these games, once 161 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: you know how they work. Um, it's kind of like 162 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: putting in a cheat code for a computer game. You you 163 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: you know there's no challenge there, there's no art to 164 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:38,439 Speaker 1: it anymore. For you. It's just mechanics at that point. Um, 165 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: not the most interesting thing to see, although I will 166 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: say running one of these games has to be one 167 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: of the most stressful, time consuming things I can imagine. Um. 168 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 1: I was reading a Sean Stewart's website. He was instrumental 169 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:56,079 Speaker 1: in creating The Beast, and he said it was extremely 170 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,080 Speaker 1: stressful because they were trying to come up with things 171 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: on the fly and he was having to write all 172 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: kinds of parts for all kinds of people, uh, you know, 173 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: and they would they would give him a call and say, well, 174 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: we need you know, uh, you know, this particular thing, 175 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:12,560 Speaker 1: and he's going, all right, well, I'll get on there. 176 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:14,719 Speaker 1: He said it was very stressful, but it was kind 177 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: of fun at the same time, because you know, it 178 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:18,959 Speaker 1: was all part of this big puzzle and they were 179 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,120 Speaker 1: sort of making it up as they went along because 180 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: the needs of the game kind of well it turns out. 181 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: It turns out just like role playing games. If any 182 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 1: of you out there have ever run a role playing game, 183 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: I'm not talking about playing, and I'm talking about being 184 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: the game master. You know that players have this nasty 185 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 1: habit of coming up with plans that you never considered 186 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: while you were designing the game. And what's worse is 187 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: when you come up with a group of players who 188 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: come up with a plan that should work, but you 189 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: didn't think about it, and then you're thinking, okay, well, 190 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: i've got two choices here. I throw out my planned 191 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 1: stuff because it no longer applies, and I run with 192 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: what they've got and I just make up the rest 193 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 1: on the fly, or I didn't eye them their plan, 194 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:05,559 Speaker 1: which in all fairness should work. Now, if you do 195 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: the second choice, that really tends to upset players because 196 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: they're they're thinking, well, now the stuff I do doesn't matter. 197 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: It's not that what I do affects the game. It's 198 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,199 Speaker 1: that I have to be led to a very specific 199 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 1: linear path and if I stray from that, then the 200 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: game does not progress. That's not much fun because really 201 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: that's just you know, that's just trying to find your 202 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: your path in a dark room. That's not a whole 203 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,199 Speaker 1: lot of challenge to that. It's just irritating. But if 204 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:35,680 Speaker 1: you do the second the first way, rather where you 205 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: adapt to what the players say, that's a lot more 206 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:42,080 Speaker 1: fun for the players. It results in going gray very early, 207 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: or if you're me, losing your hair because I would 208 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: say that was a contributing factor among several but yeah, yeah. 209 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: Sean Stewart said that the players were often very quick 210 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: and very clever with their responses, so they had to 211 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: hard to stay ahead. Well that, yeah, that's the worst 212 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:04,199 Speaker 1: part is you come up with a puzzle where you're 213 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: you're sure that's gonna take the players days to figure 214 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:09,200 Speaker 1: it out, and then they figure it out in a 215 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: matter of hours. But we'll get into that as well. 216 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: I'll explain why that happens in a second. Uh. Some 217 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: other interesting little um terms and I'm getting these, by 218 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: the way, from Cloudmaker's dot org, which is where you 219 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,680 Speaker 1: can find the entire Beast. Yes, cloud www dot Cloudmaker's 220 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,320 Speaker 1: dot org. Slash trail will give you a full outline 221 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: and description of the entire Beast storyline. And it is epic. 222 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: And I played in this game. This was and I 223 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: was part of the cloudmakers um and the way some 224 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: of the other terms they use, lurkers, that's that's the 225 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: term for someone who is watching the game but not participating, 226 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: but they're they're interested, they just don't either feel like 227 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,080 Speaker 1: they can contribute, or for some other reason they don't 228 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: they don't want to contribute, so they just watch they're 229 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: just watching the developments and they're fat snay. But and 230 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: there were times where I was more of a lurker 231 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: than a participant, mostly because my skills just were not 232 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:09,880 Speaker 1: up to par with the puzzles. Um well, lurky here. Yeah, 233 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:13,480 Speaker 1: then there are rubber neckers. Rubber Neckers will participate in 234 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: puzzles and they will try and solve things, but they 235 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: don't want to take that extra step to become part 236 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,839 Speaker 1: of the game world. So they don't want to necessarily 237 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: register their phone number or their email address. Uh, they 238 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: don't want to make a phone call or stand outside 239 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 1: of a strip mall next to a pay phone and 240 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: wait for that phone to ring so that they can 241 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,680 Speaker 1: get the next clue. Wh wouldn't you want to do that? What? 242 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: I would say that, it's just, you know, that's a 243 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 1: that's a step that some people just aren't willing to take. 244 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: And I'm sure you can't even identify with that. Collette. Well, 245 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: there are no pay phones anymore, no, but back when 246 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: they were, um so yeah, that like in The Beast 247 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: or or I Love Bees is another one there were 248 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:53,439 Speaker 1: I Love Bees was the Halo two? Uh a r 249 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: G fantastic a RG by the Way loved. I love 250 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: Bees love the Beast too, I love I think both 251 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:03,080 Speaker 1: of those were amazing, amazing games. Um And like I said, 252 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:05,680 Speaker 1: it must have driven people crazy trying to keep those 253 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: up to speed. But they use things like payphones where 254 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: at a specific time, if you were next to that payphone, 255 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: it would ring and you would get the next piece 256 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: of the puzzle. Um okay. Another term that cloudmakers use meltdown. 257 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: Meltdowns are bad. A meltdown is when a game totally 258 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: implodes because of some sort of problem, usually because one 259 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: of the puppet masters has decided to reveal the curtain 260 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: and show how the game works. Or it maybe that 261 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: perhaps the company that's behind the a r G has collapsed. Um, 262 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: it may be that the person who is running the 263 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: game has had a mental breakdown and no longer wants 264 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: to do that. But at any rate, it's it's when 265 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: a game goes away before its conclusion. And that's that's 266 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: pretty traumatic for players because players get sucked up in 267 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: these worlds. They really want to, um to get to 268 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 1: the conclusion, because I mean, you know, you're personally involved 269 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: at this point, you feel like you're part of this 270 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: bigger thing and therefore you want to see it to 271 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: its conclusion and when it when it ends up collapsing, 272 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: it's not satisfying at all. So that's a big issue. Hopefully, 273 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 1: if you do play an a ARG it doesn't suffer 274 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:21,760 Speaker 1: meltdown because people get really you know, they're they're pouring 275 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: hours of their lives into these games. Uh. There's another 276 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: term they use is rabbit hole, which is the initial 277 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: thing that gets you into the game. Reference to yes, 278 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: and it could be everything from a movie poster with 279 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: an odd you know, there's like a phrase that's circled 280 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: on it and you're thinking, why is that circled? Or 281 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: it maybe that you're watching a preview and you see 282 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: something flash on the screen really quickly and when you 283 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: slow it down you see that it's a website. Or 284 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: it could be that you go to a website that 285 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: someone has sent you a link to and it behaves oddly. 286 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 1: It could be anything like that and uh, but it's 287 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: it's the the hook that gets you into the game. Um. 288 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: And then another great term, which this is not unique 289 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: to cloudmakers, is steganography. That's the art of hiding a 290 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: message in something else, and it could be anything. It 291 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: could be hiding a message by using a specific color 292 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: pellette in a picture. It could be that you've hidden 293 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: it in the HTML code for a web page. So uh, 294 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: it's something that codebreakers have to pay attention to. I mean, 295 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: people who who break codes for a living. Steganography, that's 296 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: a that's actually a way of passing secret messages. It's 297 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: spy stuff, which is also why this is cool. Yep, 298 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: um yeah, I was just lost my train of thought. 299 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: Um yeah, I mean that's one of the cool things about, uh, 300 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: these games is that these the game is broken down 301 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: and there's so many different pieces and I think probably 302 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 1: the Internet this is not the kind of thing that 303 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: could have happened my before the Internet age, because there 304 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 1: are so many other venues, uh, you know, websites and 305 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: message boards and all kinds of online venues inside which 306 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:12,720 Speaker 1: you can you can really get involved where I mean 307 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: the phone. You might before you might have the phone. 308 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:18,440 Speaker 1: You know, you'd have print, um, but there just weren't 309 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 1: as many opportunities for people to you know, uh, stick 310 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:24,400 Speaker 1: different messages out there. And that's one of those things. 311 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: I mean, their videos and all kinds of things where 312 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,120 Speaker 1: they break down parts of the game, which just makes 313 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:31,320 Speaker 1: it that much more complex. Yeah, I mean there there 314 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:35,080 Speaker 1: are definitely precursors to a r g S, like scavenger 315 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: hunts would be fun or geo cash ing or um, 316 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: there are lots of you know, just various letter boxing. 317 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 1: That's another good one. Actually, letter boxing is probably one 318 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: of the closer ones to a r g S. But 319 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:49,440 Speaker 1: the you know, the the a r G gets so 320 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,479 Speaker 1: complex and so involved that I think it goes beyond 321 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: all of those. And like you said, the Internet is 322 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: really instrumental, and that's also instrumental for the players being 323 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: able to solve the puzzles, as these puzzles often are 324 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,920 Speaker 1: really complex, and then they're not just complex, but they're 325 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,440 Speaker 1: very specific as to the set of skills you need 326 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: to solve it. So, for instance, and I love bees, 327 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,679 Speaker 1: there were some puzzles that required you to have a 328 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:21,640 Speaker 1: pretty extensive knowledge of literature, which was awesome for me. 329 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: I was like whoo, because I was a literal literature 330 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: major in college, so um, I felt like I could 331 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: really contribute to that one. But then there would be 332 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: other puzzles where it would be a bunch of blocks 333 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: and different colors, and I had no idea what it meant. 334 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:37,680 Speaker 1: And later on we figured out that the different colors 335 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,479 Speaker 1: corresponded to different heights and that the boxes were actually 336 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 1: a top down view of a city escape and if 337 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: you decoded it and then plotted it in three D 338 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:50,600 Speaker 1: and rotated at ninety degrees so you're looking at the city, 339 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,200 Speaker 1: you would see a skyline. But I never would have 340 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:55,400 Speaker 1: figured that out, and I was just like colored blocks. 341 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 1: Why okay, wait, no, two yellows are touching? Does that 342 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: mean something? No, it didn't mean anything at all. Um. 343 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: But the reason why the Internet is important is that 344 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: it allowed communities to spring up around these games, like Cloudmakers. Now, 345 00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:11,640 Speaker 1: the cloudmakers were able to that almost sound like clown makers. 346 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:17,440 Speaker 1: Cloud makers. Clown Makers are totally different. Yeah, they all 347 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 1: drive in the same car. They're annoying. Yes, so cloud Makers. 348 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: This was a community community that sprung up around the beast. 349 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: And the nice thing about the online community was that 350 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: you didn't have to worry if your skill set wasn't 351 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: strong enough to tackle a specific puzzle, because you could 352 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: be sure someone in that group had the skills. And 353 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,639 Speaker 1: as the group grew, it just meant that the the 354 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 1: skills of the group increased. It's kind of like we 355 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: suddenly became the most intelligent human being on the face 356 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: of the planet. You know, no individual person in that 357 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:54,359 Speaker 1: group was the most intelligent person on the planet, but 358 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:59,440 Speaker 1: collectively we made an incredibly difficult opponent for the puzzlemakers. 359 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:03,639 Speaker 1: The term that Cloudmakers used for it was the collective detective, 360 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,199 Speaker 1: because as a group we could solve any puzzle in 361 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,640 Speaker 1: a matter of hours, sometimes a matter of minutes after 362 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: it went live. There are people who had developed scripts 363 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,360 Speaker 1: to crawl the web and search for new material as 364 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: soon as it went up, and so as soon as 365 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: it went up, people are like, new puzzle, and then 366 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,439 Speaker 1: thirty minutes later it solved it, and then it was like, 367 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 1: I can't believe the next part of the puzzle is 368 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: not up, whereas the puppet masters are like, holy crap. 369 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:33,440 Speaker 1: We worked for two weeks on that, we have to 370 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,960 Speaker 1: get a new piece up now. So um yeah, I 371 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: mean that it was an ongoing battle between the community 372 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:44,399 Speaker 1: and the puppet masters. And the puppet masters, I have 373 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:46,200 Speaker 1: to say for both the Beast and I love Bees 374 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,880 Speaker 1: in particular, we're really good most of the time, and 375 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: any opportunity for the people to participate and make contact 376 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: with characters in the a r G made it even 377 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,719 Speaker 1: more special because it's suddenly felt like you really like, 378 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: now you really have had an impact because you've talked 379 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:07,239 Speaker 1: to a real, live human being. And granted that real 380 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,640 Speaker 1: live human being is playing a character, but you feel 381 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 1: like you've just done something. There was a point in 382 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: UH I think it was the Beast where there was 383 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:18,160 Speaker 1: a security guard in the Statue of Liberty and if 384 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 1: you solved a puzzle, it would give you a phone number, 385 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: and it was supposed to be it was the security 386 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 1: guard's phone number. So the first time someone called the number, 387 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:27,680 Speaker 1: because we weren't sure it was a phone number at first. 388 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,640 Speaker 1: First time, I was watching while this was happening. First 389 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: time someone called it, they said the person picked up 390 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: on the other end said it was the Statue of Liberty. 391 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: I hung up because they freaked out. But then the 392 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:41,679 Speaker 1: next person called it and say they said it was 393 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: the Statue of Liberty, and that the Statue of Liberty 394 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:47,359 Speaker 1: is closed on Tuesdays, but it's not really closed on Tuesdays. 395 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:50,399 Speaker 1: And it was through that that we began to figure out, oh, wait, 396 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: this is the Statue of Liberty that exists in the 397 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: world of AI. So then we figured out, Oh, the 398 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: security guard actually is a character, and we had to 399 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: give him a pep talk and convince them to rush 400 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: into another room and rescue another fictional character who was 401 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: being tortured at the time. And because we did that, 402 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,920 Speaker 1: the one fictional characters saved the life of another fictional character, 403 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: and we all felt good about ourselves. Yeah. I mean, 404 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,240 Speaker 1: we didn't actually affect any real change in the real world, 405 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:21,879 Speaker 1: but because we felt like we had done something cool, 406 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,359 Speaker 1: we were like, hey, I saved someone's life. Not really, 407 00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 1: it was all in that game, but it felt like that. 408 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: For the reason why I think these games are so addictive, 409 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: you know, it gives you the feeling that you're really 410 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: living out this adventure. Well, yeah, I mean, there have 411 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: to be a payoff other than you find out something 412 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,640 Speaker 1: about the movie. Right. Actually, you know, here's the other 413 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: game is that the game continued after the movie came out, 414 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: and in fact, there were a lot of people who felt, um, 415 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,160 Speaker 1: myself included. Now this is just an opinion, of course, 416 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: that the game was superior to the movie, and um, 417 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: the game actually got to the point where it started 418 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 1: bringing up some really interesting concepts, like if robots had 419 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: artificial intelligence. Uh, should we give them the right to vote? 420 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 1: And I you know me, I'm a you know I'm no, 421 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: clearly not a robot. I was saying. I was gonna say, 422 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 1: I'm I'm you know that that human rights you know, 423 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: Pinko COMI liberals sort of type person. Uh, can you 424 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:25,119 Speaker 1: guess how I voted? Um? Uh no on the subject. 425 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,160 Speaker 1: Did I vote for robot rights or did I vote 426 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: against it? Um? I'd have vote for robot You are wrong, sir. 427 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,720 Speaker 1: I argued strenuously that robots should not be given the 428 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:39,720 Speaker 1: right to vote. In fact, I argued that giving them 429 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: AI in the first place was the wrong way to go. 430 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: You don't give a toaster the right to vote. That 431 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: was my point. Yeah, and p I was not popular 432 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:50,879 Speaker 1: in that group. There were other people who agreed with me, 433 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 1: and and I had a really long drawn out answer 434 00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:57,440 Speaker 1: to that. That's the sort of thing these games inspire 435 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,480 Speaker 1: you to do is think about things that uh you 436 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: normally wouldn't think about and then develop really long arguments 437 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:11,040 Speaker 1: about them. So uh so, yeah, it's definitely a time suck. Yeah. 438 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,600 Speaker 1: I checked into Uh, I checked into it a little 439 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: bit more, and uh, it's turning into something that people 440 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,360 Speaker 1: are studying in college. Um, there are books on Amazon 441 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: and other places. Um, that's where I initially ran across 442 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:29,719 Speaker 1: them about creating arcs and you know all kinds of 443 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,879 Speaker 1: Um just it's it's apparently spawned this whole movement of 444 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: people who are interested in, you know, creating new games 445 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: and trying to to do this. So I had the 446 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 1: feeling that there's just going to be more of these 447 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:43,639 Speaker 1: in the future, whether they're you know, used as guerilla 448 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: marketing techniques or just for the heck of it. Yeah. 449 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: I mean, we we've seen several other guerilla marketing techniques 450 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,080 Speaker 1: take place, like the wy So Serious game that was 451 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:57,200 Speaker 1: part of the Dark Night, or say Frenzied Waters which 452 00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:59,560 Speaker 1: was part of Shark Week for Discovery that was kind 453 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 1: of an a r G. It was it was a 454 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: r G light, but it was it was still in 455 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: the a r G arena because it blurred the lines 456 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 1: between fantasy and reality. UM so yeah, I agree, we're 457 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: gonna see them both us as viral marketing and we're 458 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,159 Speaker 1: going to see them as a standalone gaming industry. I 459 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,160 Speaker 1: think now the question is whether or not you can 460 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: find a way to create an a RG that people 461 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,719 Speaker 1: are willing to pay for, or you can monetize in 462 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: some other way to make it worth your while, because 463 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: otherwise you just have hobbyists who are, you know, enthusiastic 464 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: and great people, but they are essentially giving their free 465 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 1: time to create these things because without the money behind it, 466 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,400 Speaker 1: you really can't support it for very long. Right, Yeah, 467 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 1: it seems like it would be a big resource suck. 468 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: Yet and I cannot imagine. I can't imagine running I could. 469 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:53,560 Speaker 1: I don't know that I could ever have it more 470 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: than a puzzle or two ahead of where the players were, 471 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,600 Speaker 1: because I'd always be worried the players would come up 472 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: with somethinging that again should work, but wasn't planned for, 473 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: and you know, you need you would need help. I 474 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 1: don't think this is the kind of thing that you 475 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:14,159 Speaker 1: do by yourself. Run. Yeah, yeah, no, it's it's really 476 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: a cool idea if you are into role playing games 477 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: at all, or scavenger hunts or that sort of thing. 478 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,960 Speaker 1: And sometimes they have other benefits like the why so serious? 479 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,679 Speaker 1: I was so upset when they put up the coordinates 480 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: for Atlanta because it was in the middle of the day, 481 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: it was at a bowling alley, and I actually knew 482 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:33,440 Speaker 1: where this place was, and I wanted to go there 483 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: because if you went to the place and put in 484 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,399 Speaker 1: a specific combination on a specific locker, you would get 485 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,440 Speaker 1: a custom Joker bowling ball and bullet ball bag. And 486 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,040 Speaker 1: you know, I was thinking, now that's something I want. 487 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 1: And the problem was the coordinates went up in the 488 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,119 Speaker 1: middle of the day and went sort of how am 489 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 1: I going to get the hell out of here? And 490 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: then within thirty minutes someone had taken pictures and said 491 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:59,480 Speaker 1: I found it, Like, Uh, you stupid students, students who 492 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: have no job, U get off my lawn. Uh. You know, 493 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:05,919 Speaker 1: you know we have a lot of students listening. You 494 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: guys are awesome. I'm not talking about you. I'm talking 495 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,720 Speaker 1: about the other ones. I'm talking about the ones who 496 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,640 Speaker 1: specifically go out and ruin my a RG. And if 497 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: it was you, shame on you. Can I go bowling 498 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: with you? Because I totally want to see that bowling ball. 499 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,760 Speaker 1: It sounded so cool. Um, well that's that's a good 500 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: primmer on a r G S. I think, yeah, yeah, 501 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 1: it's um. Like I said, I think we're just sort 502 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: of scratching the surface. I think it's gonna become much 503 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: more popular in the years to go. There are a 504 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,640 Speaker 1: couple of places you can go to find out more 505 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: about a r g S if you want to find 506 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:44,359 Speaker 1: any that are currently running. There's www dot a r 507 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:48,880 Speaker 1: g N dot com that's the a r g net argon, 508 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: and there's also unfiction. Unfiction is a that was Unfiction 509 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 1: was where I first started through the Beast and I 510 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: love bees, and then I also worked with the cloud cloudmakers. 511 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 1: So uh, those would be the resources I suggest if 512 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: you want to find out more, well, then that just 513 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 1: brings us around too. A listener mail and this listener 514 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: mail comes from Shane from Texas, and Shane says, Hey, guys, 515 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,000 Speaker 1: I'm a longtime listener of the show. I just have 516 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:24,119 Speaker 1: one small edition about the d d o S distributed 517 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: denial of service podcast. You guys forgot to mention that 518 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,720 Speaker 1: these type of attacks are highly illegal in the United 519 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: States and can result in a big fine or even 520 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: jail time. I think this is very important information and 521 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: may even protect you guys from being sued for someone 522 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: who quote unquote tries this at home. Keep doing your thing, Shane. 523 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: That's a good point, Shane. We should have said don't 524 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:46,920 Speaker 1: try this at home. I thought it was you know, 525 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,040 Speaker 1: kind of obvious since we were talking about d d 526 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:51,640 Speaker 1: o S A is being a bad thing. But then 527 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,720 Speaker 1: this is hot. Yes, this is true, so maybe we 528 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:00,080 Speaker 1: should say that, so Shane, we appreciate it. Yes, do 529 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 1: not commit a denial of service attack on anyone or anything. 530 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,680 Speaker 1: It is not cool. Nope. And and the government may 531 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: have something to say to you about it. And even 532 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:15,360 Speaker 1: for our foreign listeners, your government help may have something 533 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: to say about it. Yeah. And depending on who you 534 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:19,840 Speaker 1: do the d o S attack on, some very large 535 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,320 Speaker 1: men and very expensive suits may have something to say 536 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 1: to you. In the back of a van and the helicopter. Yeah, 537 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: the next thing you know, you're helicopter rides are cool, 538 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: but not like that trying on some concrete shoes and alright, 539 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: then I'm just saying I know some people in waste 540 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 1: management disposal. That's all I'm saying. Frankie big House, if 541 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: you're out there, give me a cool right now, he 542 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 1: is You're gonna go Yeah, you know, I really know, 543 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 1: Frankie big House. No, I'm serious, I really Okay, I'll 544 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: tell you more about that. That's okay. So the guys, 545 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:54,479 Speaker 1: if you have any questions, like how I know, Frankie 546 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: big House, you can write really sorry about all that 547 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: nasty stuff I said about you earlier. Yeah, I'm sure, 548 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:00,840 Speaker 1: I'm sure you are. You can email us at tech 549 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,400 Speaker 1: stuff at how stuff works dot com, and you can 550 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: read all about various games and wastes to waste your 551 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: time at how stuff works dot com and we will 552 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:14,960 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. For moralness and thousands 553 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,920 Speaker 1: of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com and 554 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: be sure to check out the new tech stuff blog 555 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:26,960 Speaker 1: now on the how stuff Works homepage, brought to you 556 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are 557 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 1: you