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16.2.12
Girl gamers? I understand your pain.
You’re torn. You're conflicted. You're unsure. On one hand, you love videogames for all the obvious reasons. They’re fun. They’re pleasantly addictive. They come with a rich and popular culture. On the other, they’re often shallow. They can be sexist. And more often than not they send heroines into battle with naught but a thong to guard them.
I hear you, sister - men are pigs.
It's no secret that video games have developed a bad reputation amongst non-gamers for creating a gallery of shallow, oversexualised female characters. Snobbish fans of other entertainment mediums hang their hats on this; they love to point out that whilst our heroines seem to be paid by the midriff, there wasn’t a navel to be found in Citizen Kane. Our favourite industry has leapt many a hurdle since its economic genesis in the mid 80s, bounding repeatedly and with quantum leaps towards fully-fledged artistic respectability, but characters like Lara Croft, Cammy, Sivir and hundreds of others hold it back.
If you’re a man, pick your favorite male protagonist. Someone cool, and heroic (if you can't think of anyone, go with Han Solo). Now close your eyes and imagine them as accurately as you can. Make sure to account for every detail - their height, weight, stance, clothes; all of it. Once you've got a clear image, pin it down in your mind. Got it? Good.
Now have that character meet your gaze.
Now give him a speedo.
Now make him dance. He seems different now, doesn’t he? At the very least, he's less badass than when clothed. Do you still want to cheer for that character; want to lead him into dangerous battle? That’s how I imagine women feel about their videogame heroines.
Anybody who’s spent a summer of adolescent sexual tension at theatre camp knows that a character is only as good as his or her costume. You immediately realise that Malcolm Reynolds is a bona fide hero because his outfit screams 'space pirate'. We all know that a worn leather jacket + weathered brown fedora + ripped khaki adventurer's shirt = caution-to-the-wind, globe-trekking archaeologist. Combine face piercings, a hooded leather jacket and a $10,000 shopping spree at Hot Topic and what do you end up with? The troubled cyberpunk genius Lisbeth Salander, from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. These are just a few iconic characters that to some extent are defined by what they wear, by how they are presented to us.
So when a game company dresses their leading female character in a slutty bikini covered in knives, what do you think of them? Are you struck by their intelligence? Do you think they could be a doctor, or a philanthropist? Maybe a Congresswoman? I bet Margaret Thatcher wore her medieval G-string to work.
As a fan of good storytelling, I have trouble viewing scantily-clad warrioresses as real characters. They’re too impractical to be real people. Too shallow and robotic. Their existence makes me turn off the PS3; turns me away from their products. And I’m not the only one.
To be fair, there are plenty of videogame heroines with the two-hit combo of clothes and personality to choose from. Alyx Vance, from Half Life 2. Chell, from Portal. Zelda, from the Legend of Herself. Samus Aran, from Metroid. Jill Valentine, from Resident Evil. Faith, from Mirror’s Edge. Jade, from Beyond Good and Evil. Female Shepard, from Mass Effect. There are plenty of respectable women-folk to be found in the great game character sisterhood. But at the end of the day it's the gun-toting, skin-baring, Victoria's Secret model look-a-likes that seem to get the most attention.
By continuing to loudly voice how much we the gaming community enjoy seeing these clothed, believable female characters in our games, perhaps we will convince game developers guilty of oversexualising their female characters into changing their tune. If we stand together as consumers and call for more independent, badass lady-folk in our games, we might get them.
But as long as the videogame industry allows companies to create games about X-rated beach volleyball, it will remain barred from the lounge of artistic respectability, and therefore continue to press its hands longingly against the window as it watches art, film and literature converse tastefully amongst one another whilst wearing smoking jackets, puffing on expensive Cuban cigars and mahogany smoking pipes.
It's up to us to keep demanding respectable female characters in our games, brothers and sisters. We’ll slow the creation of over-sexualised video game heroines yet. And I don’t care if that lingerie is made of diamond-coated mithril tungsten - it’s not going to stop that swarm of arrows flying full-speed at your crotch.
Labels: Beyond Good and Evil, Dead or Alive, Feature, female gamers, Film tie-in, Greg Mengel, Lara Croft, League of Legends, Mass Effect, Metroid, Mirror's Edge, Opinion, Portal, Zelda
- Greg Mengel
What is gaming? What defines a game? According to the The Free Dictionary, a game is "an activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime". To me, that definition seems quite blunt, yet we are constantly being bombarded by the now-clichéd "are games art?" debate. For some time now I have sat, rather bemused, listening to and reading the words of opponents and proponents. Often I will laugh at the arguments put forward, but even more often I will enter into a small state of solitude and contemplate what has been put in front of me.
Before one can deliberate on this however, one must first have a clear idea of what 'art' truly is. According to the Free Dictionary, art is "human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature". Now, you may be thinking that is a clear confirmation that games are art. Before you do that, however, take a few moments to contemplate what art is to you, personally. A definition may give a clear meaning but it cannot gives us the true meaning, and the connotations that each individual person will have. If you took that definition literally, you would have to include trivial tasks such as mowing grass as art. For are you not altering the work of nature when you cut the grass?
Personally, I would not consider mowing the grass as art.
We have a problem. My whole argument is based on the definitions I provided, but I have also subsequently argued against one. Does that make all the definitions open to discussion? Could we not change the definition of art, or the definition of gaming, for that matter? That's often the problem with debates and discussions. One small, insignificant fact can topple your argument like a house of cards. I have seen this happen many times in the Games vs Art debate.
Mediterean Landscape by Pablo Picasso
Therefore, how does one decide whether games are art? That is a question to which I don't know the answer, probably never will. As far as I am aware it will take general consensus for games to be considered art but fortunately art does not rely on general consensus. Therefore, whether games are art is, in fact, a decision that you can only make as an individual.
Personally, I'm undecided as to whether games are art. I consider many things to be art, but I am on the fence when the term is applied to videogames. Look to other forms of expression and you'll see that not everything is considered art. George Orwell's 1984, for example, is considered to be a masterpiece by many, but the same could be said for the work of Steinback, Dickens, Tolkein, Austen, Dickinson, Yeats, Shakespeare or Wordsworth. Not everyone will consider their work art, but some will and do. There are also those who will vehemently oppose any notion of these being called art. The very same is seen in painting and sculpture. I love abstract art but there are many people who don't understand abstract art and will not count it as art.
As you may have noticed, a trend is appearing. Whenever someone has a piece of art, there is someone there to oppose any notion of it being art. To apply this to games and gaming in general, if I had to choose a game to be considered art, there are in fact very few that I would bestow with such a privilege. Games are still in their infancy and they're still trying to adjust and settle into their stride. The likes of Shadow of the Colossus, Portal, Heavy Rain, Bioshock and Uncharted are, perhaps, some that I would consider giving the term 'art' to. Why would I choose these few games? Fantastic graphics? Well-written story? Or is it more likely that they hold a mirror up to the world, and present us with something out of the ordinary, a triumph of human effort? I would very much prefer if it was the latter.
The Shadow of the Colossus: a modern masterpiece?
Are games art, or are they something completely different? I very much hope that you will go away and refuse to accept both ideas. What I do hope is that you go away feeling either amused or angry at my ramblings, but also open-minded in the future. I hope that you will look upon the 'Games vs Art' debate in future and know that both sides are right and wrong, as everyone has their own definition of what they consider to be art. Some might not consider games 'art' in its purest sense, but could concede that games are an art of some form.
I know there are some reading this that are getting ready to dissect my arguments and theories and argue passionately why games are not art and never will be art. I will do as before and remain on the fence, but I will not support anyone putting forward one theory as superior to the other. Art is like beauty: it is in the eye of the beholder.
Labels: 2011, Art, Bioshock 2, Cathal Geoghegan, Debate, Games, Games vs Art, Heavy Rain, Picasso, Portal, shadow of the colossus, Uncharted 2
- Cathal Geoghegan
Portal 2 is full of secrets. Full of 'em. Enigmas fit into riddles which rest peacefully within conundrums all tied together by Gordian knots. They're like Russian stacking dolls delivered to Earth from The Twilight Zone by a faceless man in a Riddler suit. All at once intriguing, engaging, hilarious, tedious, and incredibly, wonderfully weird, these mind-teasing allusions and conspiracy theories currently hold the complete attention of millions of gamers across the globe in an international digital noir.
The problem is, there are just too many secrets floating around the interweb to keep track of. Discussions overlap, discredited theories get reintroduced, progress gets impeded by a lack of organization, and deciphering whatever message Valve is trying to send us gets confused. Any hints Portal 2 might contain about the Half-Life universe get lost like a child in a museum who foolishly relinquishes the grasp on his mother's hand.
Now that Valve has successfully released Portal 2, most of its fans expect the company to turn its focus back towards Gordon Freeman and the fight against the extraterrestrial Combine. We all know it's coming - the question is simply when. Fortunately for us, the cavernous depths of Aperture Laboratories offer not only a buffet of robot witticisms, but also a bountiful cornucopia of Half-Life Easter eggs, to feast on.
Before we go on, know that this article is ABSOLUTELY FULL OF SPOILERS. They're everywhere. They are the house in which this article was raised as a child. If you're allergic to spoilers, then you should leave. Now. Just close your eyes, put your fingers in your ears, turn around, and run as fast as you can, belting 'Oh, Britannia' with all your lungpower. Stop after five minutes, or whenever you run into something heavy that knocks you unconscious. It's the best way.
And here we go.
We're going Borealis to the future!
Imagine that title was said by Doc Brown of Back to the Future fame.
Found amid Portal 2's labyrinthine halls are a handful of distinct clues hinting that Aperture Science's portal research may have led them to the uncharted waters of time travel. Besides driving Steam forum users absolutely crazy as they attempt to nail down an exact Aperture Laboratories timeline, this creates a world of possibilities.
Could Chell's period of stasis have been manipulated, meaning that her emergence onto the Earth's surface at the end of the game at an undisclosed year? Is the "horrible secret" of the Borealis that Eli Vance fears a time machine?
It isn't a stretch to link portal technology to time travel. Stephen Hawking is one of many physicists who believe that a traversable wormhole through spacetime is theoretically possible if an exotic matter with negative energy density could be found to stabilise it. In Portal 2, Cave Johnson reveals that the stabilizing agent in Aperturian portals is a condensed essence of moon rocks, which makes up the white-coloured liquid that allows Chell to create portals on walls of any substance. Sounds like a good enough stabilizing agent to me.
If the Borealis is indeed a titanic time machine (or at least holds one), then the reasons Vance fears it suddenly become clear. Taking out the combine is one thing; doing it whilst navigating the tightrope walk that is avoiding major paradoxes is another. It may be possible that the Borealis contains something else entirely - many believe it could harbour 'super portal' technology, an anti-matter weapon, or some sort of megalomaniacal AI. I'm not convinced.
Adding time-travel to the Half-Life universe - hell, to any story - will make it infinitely more complex and difficult to manage. That said, if any writers have proven they have the industrial scientific umbrella necessary to pass through such volatile narrative weather, it's the writers at Valve.
The Great Chell Hunt
Let's be honest... we don't know when Chell was kicked out of Aperture Labs into the wheat fields of northern Michigan. It's a mystery. When she is awakened from her cryogenic dormitory at the beginning off Portal 2, an automated voice tells her that she has been in stasis for 99,999 days. If that number is to be trusted, then the game takes place roughly 276 years after the events of Portal, which occurs shortly after the Seven Hour War in which the Combine overwhelm humanity and form the dystopian apocalypse setting of Half-Life 2. If it's not to be trusted, then Steam forum users guess the level of degradation of Chell's stasis chamber shows that the time between games may have been as short as 27ish years.
I personally doubt that Chell was in stasis for over two centuries. Why? Because according to the Half-Life wikia "...it has been stated by Gabe Newell in an October 2007 interview that Chell has importance in the overall Half-Life universe, and will eventually have a fairly significant relationship with some of the other characters that we are already familiar with."
For Chell to have a 'fairly significant relationship' with any of the series' current characters, she'll need to be alive in the same century as they are. Maybe getting her there will somehow involve time travel...
That said, there's also a chance that Chell was never even actually set free.
In a 26/4/11 interview with PC Gamer, Portal 2 writer Erik Wolpaw shed some light on Chell's emergence to the surface:
There’s always that debate about ‘ooh we could pull the rug out from under you at the last minute’ which I guess we sorta did in Portal 1. I always feel that’s a little bit cheap, I feel you the player as Chell have earned a moment of grace, right?
We did three endings, it’s a long series of endings. We wanted to show you GlaDOS, show you Chell and then show you Wheatley – GlaDOS learns a lesson and promptly deletes it so she can set herself back to zero. You learn whatever you learn and you’re out and it doesn’t look so bad – but we know the Combine’s probably lurking out there somewhere. And you get the Companion Cube back – that could be good or bad, it’s not really clear. In my mind GlaDOS has given you the Companion Cube like “take your shit and go”, or the Companion Cube has been on its own adventure this whole time and just manages to escape at exactly the same moment you do, in which case it’s probably pissed.
When asked whether Chell would run into Combine just past those peaceful amber fields, Wolpaw had this to say:
The only qualification is something we’re just kind of saddled with – you know that the world to some extent has gone to shit, right? It’s not a happy world she’s exiting into. Although having said that we don’t know how much time has passed – maybe the Combine have been beaten back and the world is nice. If nothing else we want to give her as happy ending as we can, entering into the Half-Life universe. It’s a fairly bucolic scene, it’s very nice. She gets serenaded on the way out, that’s always pleasant. She does get a happy ending, there’s no point in being negative about it, I just can’t let go of the fact that we know where she gets that happy ending, and there could be some danger out there. I’m an adult, terrible shit happens to me all the time. I want happy endings for everyone, the kind I’m not gonna get in real life – I mean, we’re all gonna die, let’s face it.Yes, we all die, Erik. Only most of us aren't slaughtered by alien overlords minutes after being released from an underground laboratory where we were forced repeatedly to complete tests using a gun that defies physics by a sarcastic robot who is probably our mother. That's pretty unique.
Eli Vance ...of Aperture Science?
Somehow, there seems to be a connection between Eli Vance, the Gravity Gun, and Aperture Science. Here are some facts:
1. Eli Vance claims to have invented the Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2.
2. Prior to GLADoS killing its inhabitants, there appears to be a Gravity Gun in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, along with an H.E.V. charger, shown in the comic Portal2: Lab Rat.
3. Chell's parentage is brought into question in Portal 2. Her freakishly successful 'Bring Your Daughter To Work Day' experiment and constant ribbing from GLADoS for being adopted tell us that her parentage must have been known by Aperture Science, and could very well have been linked to a scientist there.
4. Chell and Alyx Vance look kind of similar...
5. Azian, Alyx's mother, is something of a mystery at this point, as all we know about her is that she died during the Black Mesa Incident. She could very well have been a corporate spy for either Black Mesa or Aperture Science against the other. For that matter, so could Eli.
6. Or, if we'd rather not get into Chell's parentage (there's also plenty of evidence pointing to Cave Johnson and Caroline, whose genetic code is implanted into GLADoS, as Chell's parents), a collection of pictures found in Kleiner's lab in Half-Life 2 show of his former Black Mesa colleagues whom most fans believe once worked for Aperture, but defected. There's nothing worth noting in its scenery. Nothing at all. *cough*
Besides these scandalous mysteries, the last thing Eli said before he died was that he had something crucial to reveal to Gordon and Alyx about the G-Man. How did Aperture get ahold of Eli's Gravity Gun? How did Eli learn the 'terrible secret' of the Borealis? Is it possible that the G-Man is somehow related to Aperture Science?! Oy, what a tangled web. It seems as though Eli has a lot of explaining to do. ...err... had a lot of explaining to do...
One way or another, Eli's secrets will inevitably be brought to light.
Playing as Gordon Freeman and Friends
Though not found directly within Portal 2, news recently surfaced that Valve, whose single-player games frequent 'Top 100 Games of All Time' lists, is probably done designing single-player games. If this is true, then the next Half-Life will sport heavy cooperative play, and may look a lot like Left 4 Dead.
I don't hate the idea. Playing as Gordon Freeman, Barney, and Alyx wouldn't be terrible. In many ways it would actually do a service to the plot, giving players a chance to witness important character development first-hand, without needed to show it down their throats by way of excess exposition. But let's go a step further. Assuming the Half-Life universe's tangled web of a storyline somehow brings all four of them together, how about a dream team of Gordon Freeman, Barney Calhoun, Adrian Shephard, and Chell (each of whom has been the protagonist of their own game)? Talk about fan service.
The downside of no more single-player Half-Life is that we'll lose out on the solo exploration that has been such an integral part of controlling Gordon Freeman in the past. As a mute protagonist, Gordon is made all the more mysterious by his ability to accomplish tremendous feats while saying not a word. There's a certain serenity that comes from taking a break from the action to solve a puzzle in an outdoor setting, in absolute silence, without any fear of human players with mics loudly discussing whose turn it is to teabag a Combine corpse two feet beside you. Corpse-humping always seems to kill the magic.
It's not over yet...
The first thing we've learned about Half-Life from Portal 2 and its ARG is that we've learned nothing. Socrates would have liked that, if his genetic code were placed in a personality sphere.[1]
It's been just over a week since Portal 2 came out, and talk of newly discovered Easter eggs pop up in the Steam forums every day. As of yet, it seems that nobody has accomplished 100% completion of the game. There's no way to prove it will happen, but I have a serious hunch that we'll see something more when that does. My guess? A five second extension to the video found at the end of the game. Once Chell is on the surface and the hatch door behind her closes, she turns around and either sees evidence that she's in a grid, or notices a Combine Stider/Dropship/Gunship turning to see her, or being shot down by Rebels of some kind. Or maybe due to some sort of time travel she arrive at the surface just before the start of the Seven Hour War.
This is all incredibly theoretical, but I would not be surprised at all if Valve snuck in a collosal teaser like an extended ending to prepare us for Half-Life: Episode 3 or Half-Life 3, one of which is rumoured to be announced at the upcoming 2011 E3.
To summarise what we've learned:
- The Borealis could very well contain a time machine (or a similarly dangerous weapon that somehow involves super-portal tech).
- Chell is likely back on the surface, either centuries after the events of Half-Life 2 or a decade or two after it. An interview with Erik Wolpaw seems to hint that she has emerged into a world that "to some extent has gone to shit".
- Eli Vance somehow either knew of or was directly involved in a relationship between Aperture Science and Black Mesa that may have involved corporate espionage. This may directly involve technology used to create the Gravity Gun.
- Though discovered by recent news (and not an Easter egg), Valve may produce its next Half-Life title with no single-player mode (only cooperative)
- There is more to discover, as we have not yet heard of anybody obtaining 100% completion of all trophy/achievement challenges in the game.
Want more Aperture-centric Easter eggs, not directly related to the Half-Life story? I'll lead you right.
- Portal 2 and PROMETHEoS
- A sane person. Yep, definitely sane. No craziness here.
- If you believe we put a man on the moon
- Who needs mom when you've got science? Explodey science. Delicious, explodey science.
- The Passing of Wheatley
That should be enough for you to bathe in the enigmatic waters flowing out of the Portal 2 Valve for a few hours.[2] There's only one way to finish this article off:
Footnotes
[1] - SOCRAToS?[2] - (Did you see what I did there? Did you see it? Yeah? Did you? No? With the pun? And the pun-making? No congratulatory high-five? No celebratory fist-bumps all around? Not even a smile? Alright, okay. You're a jerk. I get it. I hope you choke on that pride. Like a chunk of haughty sausage. You know, not enough choking to actually kill you, but just enough to make you say "Oh wow, maybe next time I shouldn't throw away perfectly good karma." Gandhi would've laughed. At my pun. The man had loads of karma. Guy was swimming in it. He bathed in it under a Valve. He gave it away to his friends and family as Christmas presents. Or the Hindu equivalent of Christmas. Herds of adopted multi-ethnic children are to Brangelina as karma is to Gandhi. You should try to be more like him. Only, you know, without the painful syphilis. Might've been king of the world if not for that syphilis. That's what made him so skinny. Syphilis will just sit there, in your stomach, waiting for food to drop down so it can snatch it up and swallow it in its dreadful maw before you get any nutrients. It works sort of like that scene in Alien when the extra-terrestrial leaps out of the man's stomach, or like the scene in Spaceballs where they make fun of the scene in Alien. Not kidding. I saw it on television once. Planet Earth. Terrific show. It was kind of beautiful, really. Full of... nature. Kidding, kidding! You almost took the lawyers of the leash there for a moment. I saw it in your eyes. "Oh I'm going to sue this bastard for slighting Gandhi. I am going to sue him right in his stupid ...face!" It was in your eyes. Fierce. Like a shark, mated with a tiger. Shiger eyes. Scary. Well no need, I apologise. No, no, I'm serious. How's this for a deal - I'll stop accusing beloved world leaders of having crippling alien venereal diseases, and you'll stop threatening to sue me and my loved ones. That work for you? Good. Wonderful. Excellent. On with your day, then.)
Labels: 2011, Aperture Science, Black Mesa, Greg Mengel, Half Life 2, Half Life 3, Half-Life, Portal, Portal 2, Valve
- Greg Mengel
Easter break is here. Portal 2 is here. In the words of our robot queen, GLADoS, when one applies the math they come up with only one result: Portal 2 Easter Eggs. I should warn you now, there are some big spoilers in this post and so if you've not had the chance to play through yet, I recommend holding back.
So, on with the show.
1: P-Body cruising round the testing labs.
One of the biggest draws to Portal 2 for fans was the inclusion of a cooperative mode wherein you and a friend are placed in the shoes of two robots, Atlas & P-Body, and are tasked with replacing human beings for testing purposes. There is little reference to these robots in the single player campaign, but if you look carefully you can see on of them in another testing lab.
2: Chell's science project
If you have played through the original Portal then you may have heard GLADoS talk about a 'Bring your daughter to work day'. In the above post you can see the results of part of that day, and at the end you can even see one of the projects was done by a girl called Chell. A coincidence?
3: The ship of dreams
First mentioned all the way back in Half Life 2: Episode 2, The Borialis research ship is supposedly part of the setting for the next game in the Half Life series. Up until Portal 2, little was known of this legend but now we can actually see the dry dock where the mighty vessel used to sit. This is also one of the biggest connections between the 2 series', Portal and Half Life.
4: Set a trap, it's the Ratman
The elusive being known as Ratman who appeared in the original Portal seems to have actually managed to escape from the elaborate traps placed by GLADoS. He appears again in he sequel, and several of his 'dens' can be found by exploring remote areas in test chambers. These nests often include empty cans of beans and crazy drawings on the walls. Interestingly, taking a radio and placing it in a certain den will produce a strange message which can be decoded to reveal the image below.
So there are a few of the Portal 2 Easter Eggs that have been found so far. With Valve's penchant for teasing the fanboys in all of us, and with Half Life 3 on the horizon, I wouldn't doubt it if we saw a few dozen more in the future.
Labels: 2011, Easter Eggs, Half Life 3, Jacques Hulme, Portal, Portal 2
- Anonymous
If you're a fan of video games then you've undoubtedly heard of or played the excellent puzzle based title, Portal. Released in 2007, the game, set in the Half Life universe, follows the trials of Chell, a test subject of the evil computer, GLaDOS. It has been four years since we began to 'think with portals', and it's almost time to return to the decimated world of the testing facility.
Although, at the moment, it seems our adventure might not be all together clear.
Over the past 13 days a huge Alternate Reality Game, or ARG, has unfolded, revealing a dark future for us all. It started with the release of The Potato Pack on Steam, a collection of thirteen titles all retailed at a discounted price. At face value, it seemed much like any Steam deal pack; a great selection of top titles at an unbeatable price. However, over the course of a few hours it started to become clear that all was not as it seemed. Each had received an update, which stuck Potatoes into odd situations in the levels. After this initial discovery, further findings were made, including a collection of glyphs placed around the games, which were eventually decoded on IRC channels and the Wiki page valvearg.com. At the same time, several fictional characters appeared around the net, including several Twitter accounts and a blog by someone called 'Sandy'.
Although much went on during the next day, it ultimately led to the discovery of 'Aperture Science Login Screens' accessible in each game by completing an unspecified challenge. It was around this point that I joined in with the ARG, and began to follow the unfolding story. The inclusion of these logins suggested that this was Valve's - or more specifically, Aperture Science's - doing, and quite clearly connected to the impending release of Portal 2. To futher confirm this, a number of sites received emails from Gabe Newell, each of which contained parts of a whole picture. Once collected together, these formed a line of numbers which the ARG team set about decoding.
Skipping much of the story - which you can always catch up on alone, should you wish - we come to today. The ARG is still in full swing, with little indication of it ending any time soon. As I write, an interesting development becomes apparent as several prominant members of the IRC and wiki team have been abducted, presumably by GLaDOS. It really has been a great story so far, and I urge you to at least read up on what has happened, or even go and try to help!
Valve wasn't the first to use an ARG, though. In fact, there have been several in the past. Ultimately, they are a fancy way of advertising; personally, however, I would much rather be faced with this kind of task than see a thirty second TV spot telling me that a new title is the best thing since sliced bread. It also brings together a huge group of fans from across the world, who are all focussed on the same task. Each person plays a vital role in decyphering the clues, too (not least the cryptography wizards, who crack them in a matter of hours). On the other hand, IRC moderators are vital to create some order in a frantic world. Even if you're not a great mathematician, and even if you can't decrypt a HEX code, the ideas that you do have are still valuable.
Perhaps, then, an ARG (or even any internet community) is one of the best societies in the world. In only a few days a sense of order has been created, there are dedicated channels filled with people working on with specific tasks, each member has the potential for the next breakthrough and, most importantly, it works so well. An ARG is a giant puzzle, and each player holds one piece which fits somewhere.
Valve does an ARG right.
Labels: 2011, Alternate Reality Game, Aperture Science, GLaDOS, Portal, Portal 2, Valve
- Anonymous
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