Introduction

Hello.

My name is Jetamo, and this is my sad attempt at a new ARG blog.

Seeing as how around 75% of the internet( perhaps more) know nothing about ARGs, I will be usin this first post to explain ARGs.

A.R.G.(pronounced Eh-Arr-Gee, not ARR-GUH)

Alternate. Reality. Game.

Phew. Scary title, really.

Alternate Reality Games are something of an increasing popularity, for both advertising companys, the videogame industry, and the movie industry.

Reason? Viral. Word of mouth. mailing lists. Even jayisgames.com.

It's like a lake. Drop a pebble in. Watch the ripples slowly more and more enlargening.

Now, think that the internet is like a lake. Now think that the pebble is something like an ARG. or something just freaky like the whole Eon8 thing a bit before.

Watching the ripples? Whoosh, that one just hit jayisgames.com. Whoosh. that one hit IGN.

See it? And when it all reveals down to sometimes viral marketing for something, internet peoples will always remember it as the thing for "Gun" for example.

And then, there's the sort of games which are just.. not viral marketing. Not trying to get a profit.

People in the ARGing community call these indie games "grassroots".

Now, i'm all for both types. So you'll see plenty of grassroots and the big commercial ones...

For some reason, i just realized, i just explained why people do them. Not the content.

Some people might be thinking.. "Yeah, so it's just a GAME. an nice animated Flash game, with the clicking up the arrows and the glahvin"WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

This isn't a game you can write a walkthrough for, and if you get stuck, you can run to it.

Also, unlike most games, you can chat with the characters. And what you chat isn't stuff like preset, like in RPG games.

Unless it's a chatbot, but a chatbot usually fits into the story as being A.I.

And they chat back. Sometimes you can find likes and dislikes that are.. alike.. with the person you are chatting with.

Then, there's the story.

Each ARG has a seperate story, but it isn't one where you read along and when it gets bad it stays bad.

Sometimes, if you act quickly, talking to the characters and etc. you can change the story.

Of course, that's with a very few number of ARGs. At least, so far.

And then, there are the puzzles.

Most people go to ARGs, for the interaction or the story. But most stay for the puzzles.

They complex you, they perplex(Perplex City ref here.) you. But you get a big boost of pride if you are the first one to solve it.Obviosuly, there are a few things i missed here, but if anyone wants to discuss it with me(I'm sorta new to all this as well, just so you know), Contact me at jet2themax@aol.com, or leave a comment