arg presentation: lost - namaste

8/14/2019 ARG presentation: Lost - Namaste

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ARG’s are games where players can have interactive experiences with

Characters in the games and contribute to the story. At least ideally. This

semester I played Dharma Wants You. It is an ARG revolving the TV show LOST

on ABC.



I started playing Dharma Wants You initially when we first signed up for our

Historical ARGs. I was kind of psyched and ready to play. Unfortunately the game

wasn’t playing to the pace I wanted to play to. I jumped into the website, made afake email and then started playing the puzzles that were available. After

completing all of the tests up to date I saw results for testing go up on the site. I

can log into my old account and information.

Dharma Wants You



Welcome to Dharma Wants You.Dharma Wants You was an online experience connected to the ABC TV show LOST.

The story followed a fictitious scientific institute, The Dharma Initiative, as it recruited

and assessed volunteers for a number of positions and departments.

By completing an 'Eligibility Test' and registering on dharmawantsyou.com audience

members enrolled as volunteer recruits for the Dharma Initiative.Volunteers took part in a series of challenging aptitude tests scientifically designed to

assess their suitability for a range of research roles.

The results of these tests are currently being analysed by the Volunteer Recruit

Evaluation Panel.

From December 15th, 2008, registered recruits will be able to download a personalizedVolunteer Assessment Dossier outlining their full results as well as their allocated

department and role within the Dharma Initiative.



The game was fun when I was doing the puzzles but truthfully I would maybe get to

play the game once a week for an hour max. I didn’t really feel engaged in the story

and half the time I just felt like the puzzles were basic and kind of annoying. I don’t

really like puzzles. I like a controller and a shotgun. =D

After I had taken my seventh test and I revisited the site I was welcomed with a

message saying “Yeah good times but its over until December 15th, You’ll get your

results in a while. So when I got the results I was placed as a Gardener. I have to

admit that the results were pretty cool. I had created two accounts for Dharma

Wants You. There was a built in mechanism for cheating and on one of them I

cheated and on the other I didn’t. I cant seem to remember the account and pass for

the cheating account but here are the results and certificate for the other.



Then we got sold out…

Below is a link to a blog that I found though Candace. After

long awaited information her blog led me to some very

useful and distressing information.

http://candiluu.wordpress.com/

http://wikibruce.com/2008/11/dharma-initiative-sold/

Apparently I wasn’t the only one upset either…

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=mb&cat

=125448&tid=507412



Well that was the end of my LOST adventure. It felt short lived and not what I

expected. I suppose my level of interaction would place me in the level 2 active

player because I never really posted on the forums and got involved in thecommunity and I only really participated online and played the puzzles.



I believe that this ARG had really good potential and if had not been

sold out I might have actually continued playing it. Maybe. But is this an

ARG? Lets run down the checklist.



I believe the game did this relatively well. Even thought it did take a week

to update usually the games and tests they posted up were still

entertaining at least the first few times around. And when I learned about

the grouping to classify the players I thought that was kind of cool. Alsothe name of the institution let us connect with the show.

Check.



-Dharma Association from the TV show

-Interactive Puzzles with implanted cheats

-Tests and Results for each player was sent to them

Check.



Dharma Wants You had a link to a forum at the bottom of the page. Most of

the information I found here. There was a lot of discussion after the

announcement of company being sold away. Many of them disappointed. So I

guess there was no self organizing structure really. It was set up for the

players.

Fail.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=mb&cat=125448



No not really. I suppose you could choose if you wanted

to be a black or white swan but ultimately there seemed

to be a goal they wanted to you reach because there wasonly a certain and defined list of Jobs you could get

placed into. Maybe this was because the ARG was still in

the pre-game.

Fail.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=mb&cat=125448&tid=507527



Personally I think that this game was an ARG even if the game was

lacking a active story. In this case I think that the interaction with the

story was enough to make this into an ARG even if it wasn’t endlessly

expansive.



Unfortunately the game seemed to end before it started. I

didn’t really enjoy playing that much because by the time I

started getting excited to play they say “Hey wait tillDecember guys?” So Ill just stick to my Xbox 360 for now.

Who knows, I might play another one again if I happen

across it. I honestly think it would be a lot more fun to create

an ARG. I don’t have the resources or skill. So for now I

suppose Ill just have to watch and play.



Presentation by Yazen Almasri

http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/site/index.php#/choose

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=mb&cat=125448

http://wikibruce.com/2008/11/dharma-initiative-sold/

http://candiluu.wordpress.com/

http://www.argn.com/

arg presentation: lost - namaste

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