Alternate Reality Games

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This isn't an ARG at all, but I feel it fits into this thread, because it has potential to have a very intresting story, and maybe even become an ARG if there is enough participation.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB5VztkBipO5d-Wu6grecCQ

At first, it seemed like a ton of unrelated and unimportant videos, but I watched all of them and subscribed, because they were pretty intresting, and very unpredictable. But then, with his last two videos (Sneaking into the suicide room: https://youtu.be/MHbKMKw1J5I and Trickle, Trickle: https://youtu.be/kzBtDZTj5so) things started to change. With the first one, it showed a link between this channel and Aspicio Omniam.

Then, in the last video, it connected to all of the videos together. In the first ten seconds of the video, you can see that he is watching Aspicio Omniam, which reveals that that video was just the kids imagination. You can also see several toy and nic naks in his room that seem familiar. It is apperent that his videos are jst his imagination. A bit later, it shows a subliminal message of a number code, and when deciphered with a number to letter cipher, it says, "Noah is Here." It is apperent the kids name is Noah.

At the end of the video, it shows him spell out "DEATH" with cutips, in the same bathroom where a dad commited suicide (most likely) in the first video (Went Out Drinking With the Boys: https://youtu.be/Ps4TWkO0hfU). After this, he holds up the scissors in the same fashion of the original video, impicating suicide, but then stops because he hears knocking. It fades to black, shows a quick jumscare of the kid screaming, goes back to black, and then shows the text, "at ease."

I am looking forward to see how this progresses. How about we all comment on the video, "We are here" or something.

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An ARG/Webseries from the YouTube thread. The premise seems interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClL2P3QVXfNK1OnDDmIceSg

>>17928939
It does

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2sD8wfhAWj-it0XnJoAxaQ

This ARG is something else to me. The amount of clues and secrets hidden in it are just incredible. Worth checking out, /x/.

I wish I knew how to get people interested in an ARG I'm working on without viraling like a scumbag

>>17929692
I'm still curious about this, so if anyone can help, I'd apreciate it

>>17929646
Yes, I know about this one. Very intresting

>>17929692
I know, right

95% of the ARG's mentioned on /x/ are not ARGs and I really hope we could stop using this term so lightly.

>>17930251
There should be another name for this kind of stuff that covers a broader spectrum

>>17929646
Yes, this deserves some attention

>>17930254
/x/ considers any attempt at a spooky video on YouTube as an ARG

/r/arg is worse, every single posting of some text in binary is considered an ARG

It's like how 'meme' mutated to mean 'picture with some text on it' and now, fuck 'meme' seems to mean anything that gets posted to the Internet

>>17929692
Yes, that would be nice.

>>17930266
Its a bit out of control. ARG require a large amount of user participation and subtlety

>>17930251
>>17930266
The problem is that a lot of things considered to be ARGs are just vague enough on participation. There's a lot of overlap with found footage/mockumentary type fiction as well.

I personally think that there's a sliding scale of what constitutes an ARG. If it has any user involvement, yeah that's an ARG, but the nature of user involvement can be incredibly different depending on how its handled.

MeatSleep was an ARG that was almost entirely dictated by viewer input. Something like alantutorial or Marble Hornets have the viewer participation mostly be in the form of discovery and speculation.

Maybe having ARG be broader than it originally was is a good thing, because then people would be able to discover ARGs that they might really be invested in because of the addition of "subcategories". You can have ARGs of slightly themed videos that you just need to dig a little bit to find, you can have ARGs with narratives more defined by viewers, and by broadening the term, it would allow for other new possibilities to open up.

There is the possible problem of every ARG becoming too samey once the term is broadened, of course. You can only hope that people making ARGs are more experimental in terms of input.

Right now, the ARG I'm working on fits a bit more into the category of user interaction being mainly discovery and deciphering a static event. Something I'm trying to do that's different is to have less of a "found footage" visual style to it, due to the nature of the medium I'm working with being incompatible with that. Instead, I'm dividing it into three sections: the main video, a small interactive walking sim/puzzle game, and one aspect that is more focused on the found footage trend, but done in a way where it's purpose is to illustrate the rules of this fictional world.

>>17930303
The term ARG should still be reserved for more elaborate and interactive things, though

>>17930421
Hey, I'm just throwing around ideas.

>>17930482
Yea, I get it

>>17930251
you are right. but if people want to call shitty youtube channels with a bunch of random spoopy images and codes mashed over filters to make a loosely fitting story ARGs i am fine with having that little red flag around.

>>17930589
>i am fine with having that little red flag around.

??

>>17930598
as in i would see anything described/recommended as an ARG and know to be reluctant in participating because its probably shit on top of the fact that it is already inherent RP shit

>>17930620
Dude, your writing is so incoherent it's hard to tell what your point is.

>>17930663
I would see anything described or recommended to me as an ARG and know to be reluctant in participating because it's probably shit, on top of the fact that videos in the ARG genre are already inherently role playing type shit.

not hard to understand tbqhwu famaloo

cool

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Anyone else come up with anything with the MatthewTobias ARG?

https://matthewtobias15.blogspot.com/
He posted this recently, it's pretty gross looking.

>>17931414
Looks like ink. How about a brief background what it's about? Post-apocalypse, serial-killer, lab-rat, amnesia victim??? Have any more images to share?

>>17931414

That's just ink. Probably either inkjet printer ink, or fountain pen ink. Lots of people use those needles to draw up ink to refill eye dropper fountain pens or inkjet cartridges.

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I made my own thread but now i realise this was a mistake so im copying it here

So about 3 hours ago someone posted this image on /g/. It 404'd but im making the thread in hopes that its a complex arg that we can continue (probably isn't but whatever).

It seems the text around the eye translates with a rot23 ceasar cipher. The red text translates to "first letter here" The green text translates to "display here" and the violet text under the black side translates to "imgur is a chill site". Thats all I have so far.

What do you think?

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>>17931443

>>17931426
>Lots of people use those needles to draw up ink to refill eye dropper fountain pens or inkjet cartridges.

Especially since the syringe is labeled for non-medical use. UNLESS, it's like a printer with A Bad Habit, or a tattoo main-liner...

>>17931420
>>17931426
>>17931452
Printer ink is usually powdery.

But obviously this is an ARG so WHAT it is doesn't really matter, it's obviously trying to be something different.

According to the blog post i'ts a drug that the girl uses.

Also no it's not printer ink, theres some weird grainy texture, and it has coagulated a bit

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Well at least they have but effort into it

>>17931420
I honestly don't know. All I can tell so far from reading the journal is it's a dream journal where the guy blogs about his junkie girlfriend who is one some weird kind of smack.

The dreams are pretty interesting though, definitely ARG puzzles. Can't figure any of them out

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So Troy (Jay) of Marble Hornets/THAC launched a new channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPEDbsJ8CqA
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOkx_7jkvkNGEzQcRlEmdeQ

For those wondering what happened:

http://ferretbrain.com/articles/article-1089

tl:dr: Marble Hornets had a lackluster ending that turned into a lackluster sequel (Clear Lakes 44). They also added a new guy named Noah no one wanted. They begin losing money and Troy has to start stealing some of it from the company account to feed his newborn baby. The other guys, Tim and Joseph (Alex) find out and quit. Troy then admits what happened publicly and cancels CL44 and then fires Noah. Troy says he's forming a new channel and will eventually start a new horror series.

>>17933769
The company is called Fish With A Nose and will continue some THAC series:

https://www.patreon.com/fwan


I myself don't think that Troy will do it, he has a family now and I feel like people will be cautious of working with him.

>>17928939
I find it kind of poetic how his most recent video says "there is no light here" as if the camera is in a dark place but also showing that the lamp is no longer in the shot (sorry for bad English, I haven't slept in three days)

>>17933769
Hmm......

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https://youtu.be/o9pjEmLHHhY

Thoughts? I cant really make sense of it.

>>17934112
Near the end of the video it has the audio, "g-g-g-gramma gramma, ba-ba-babamabama"

i think this has the potential to be cool depending on how cryptic this guy wants to be
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClL2P3QVXfNK1OnDDmIceSg

Apperently he has a twitter now.

Https://www.twitter.com/Thefakelvp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1qj_Suu7OQ

>>17936795
Intresting

Night Mind found an interesting ARG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elx2X-qbCJE

>>17928781
"hurr durr i watch night mind and i am fan of spooks"

>>17937106
Everything you say is true

>>17937098
Yea, I have seen it

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>>17930251
>>17930254
>>17930271
>>17930705
>>17930421
What if we called unconfirmed ARGs something like PARGs(potential alternate reality games)? Or even WARGs(would-be alternate reality games)?

>>17930266
I feel your pain, but the original concept of a meme was much broader than "internet joke", so it opening up is kind of getting closer to its original definition. On the other hand not everything is a meme, and that's where a lot of the frustration is coming from. A meme is just a cultural gene, or idea. Saying hello when you meet someone is a meme. Shaking hands is a meme. Bending over and pointing your ass at the sky, waiting for Allah's cock is a meme. Your mom is a meme.

>>17938070
Good points, but we already just call partial ARGs roleplaying

>>17938125
But roleplaying is such a prerogative term here, basically meaning 'anything I don't like'... or was that your less than serious point and it just bounced right off me?

Your OP image works as a check-off list to tell if something is an ARG or not. It'd exclude "Look at my video!" and "I converted some sort of spooky text into binary!"

Guess I'm saying ARG vs. not an ARG works best IMHO

>>17938179
I've seen The Toynbee Tiles refereed to as an ARG. Which is bizarre, yeah it was 'puzzling'. But it wasn't a game, just a very dedicated crazy person. More like performance art.

Cicada, is that an ARG? It sort of fits -- but seems hell-bent on telling everyone it's not. Mostly by being more of a chore than fun. :)

There's wacky websites out there that you can read forever that don't have an apparent end, but are manifesto sites ARGs? I'm thinking of that one guy convinced google was brainwashing kids, and some other one that just keep explaining weird numerical combinations for page, after page, after page...

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>>17938223
And finally here's a scary thought from left field based on the OP image. Is /x/ an ARG?

∙ Solving real time problems: /x/ wants to, always looking for real-life conspiracies to uncover
∙ Use of Collective Intelligence: /x/ uses collective efforts, but I know, 'intelligence' does seem the right word here
∙ Multimodal Play: /x/ loves urbanEx, but is hampered by fears of the world beyond the comfy basement -- but /x/ is a multimedia loving site, so multimode?
∙ Participatory StoryTelling: creepypasta? Participation in Slenderman/KEK mythos spread ( though starting neither )


But there's no one at the wheel and /x/ is about as goal free as you can get.

>>17938179
>It'd exclude "Look at my video!" and "I converted some sort of spooky text into binary!"
I kind of agree with you but I kind of disagree with you at the same time. Something is more likely to be an ARG if it's commercial, and thus at least somewhat deliberately forced. If someone is producing an ARG for a product they kind of want people to think it's an ARG (even if they say they don't) because that sort of cements the virality of the game. A commercially successful ARG is one which lures lots of people in and then reveals itself. The aimless stuff is more likely to be the excrement of hobbies people have taken up just for the sake of it. Stuff that's less structured.

This sort of presents the previous question of how to market an ARG without ramming it down peoples throats - if your ARG is subtle enough, it's just going to languish as some oddity on the Internet. People won't engage with it in the same way they do with known ARGs because they don't yet realise it's a game. On the other hand, in my opinion the best ARGs are ones with subtlety and panache.

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>>17934112
https://youtu.be/o9pjEmLHHhY

Some things to note

The video primarily uses shots from previous videos, with the exception off a few new shots.

The audio seems really weird and distorted at first, but as it speeds up you can hear the kid singing about/to his gramma in a beckoning way.

And then, in the final seqence, which is really sped up, it adds a final slide that has title text here written in caps lock on another font. In the bottom of the screen you can barely make out, "Why did you leave me with my dad?"

And what video does the slide have? A clip from the end of Trickle, Trickle, that shows Noah screaming.

Also, the title seems to be a nod to how the videos are made in FUCKING IMOVIE.

>>17938313
You've posted that exact same comments in multiple threads, such as: >>17938326

This is an example of someone slamming people over the head with their ARG.

>>17938285
>This sort of presents the previous question of how to market an ARG without ramming it down peoples throats

Both unfiction and /r/NoSleepSleuths allow you to submit ARGs to the moderators who then decide if they want to post it to their respective site as something worth looking into. I have no idea how well that works, or how picky they are about what they use. You'd not be anonymous to the Mod depending on how you submitted, but my gut-reaction is they'd just toss anything too shady-looking anonymous fearing it'd lead to a porno-spamfest or the like.

>>17938070
>>17938125
Pseudo-ARGs? Idk new to this particular thread wanted to put my two cents in

Taking a break from my own secret project to ask you guys about "sn ch"

It's a channel on youtube showcasing ten second long clips of three guys doing fun shit. It gets intercepted by the spooks, of course.

The biggest barrier for me right now is the code used for the first batch of videos on their channel. While the second batch uses base64 code, I do not know which code is used for the first videos. Can you help me take a crack at this?

9010364534896624351

NIHIL CREDERE EST TE IPSUM CAEDERE

>>17940466
Weird...

>>17940999
Nice trips.

Translation: Believes the yourself cutting?

>>17938313
Dude, stop spamming.

Good god this thread moves slowly.

>>17944357
>Good god this thread moves slowly.
/b/tard detected.

>>17944357
Thats just /x/, for you.

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>>17928781
>>17928861
Do any of you know about Positive Downer, Nightnurse and symbiote? Well, it appears that there is a large link between this and The Fake LVP. All of the symbiotes and The Fake LVP are subscribed to one another, and The Fake LVP has two of the symbiotes in his featured channels list.

As well as that, both The Fake LVP and the symbiotes group have a link to the Aspicio Omniam channel.

So, in The Fake LVP's most recent video, (https://youtu.be/FG4H4lJJcEA) things start to change. It shows a clip from almost exactly a year ago, showing a younger Noah filmong some lobsters in a cage and occasionally remarking about them. It his also worth noting that in the description it says, "Deus autem non dimiseritis" which translates to, "God doesn't forgive"

This is getting pretty spicy, /x/. I hope something comes of this channel.

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Look at this. Compare the Operator Symbol (left) to the Zodiac Killer (Right).
Do you know what this means?
[spoiler]Ted Cruz is Slenderman.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]But seriously though, it could be an interesting idea.[/spoiler]

In the name of slendy, I raise you!

>>17928939
Cool, has an early totheark vibe. Anyone find any more on this?

>>17944803
>Positive Downer
I need to watch their shit. One of their videos is really fucking cool by ARG standards, even by webseries standards. It has a weird alien creature animated in a manner that looks like they have a huge hollywood budget

>>17948536
Yea, its growing fast.

So, can someone explain this to me? The Fake LVP just uploaded a video with no title (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8Dl34Aj-m0). I tried this myself with alt+255 but it didn't work.

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>>17951166
>>17952255
double dubs

Dont want to see thread die

My favorite ARG is alantutorial