Tubenauts strike again

I’m back home after my travels. I kept myself busy on the plane by writing out blog posts. Wasn’t that thoughtful of me?

Anyway, this week, the Tubenauts gabbed about PMOG’s player-generated Chaos Week, a celebration of all the mischief-making classes in the passive gaming world. User drudge (who couldn’t be reached in time for the podcast, but who I tracked down for this entry), came up with the idea after a discussion about a massive amount of mines on Google.com:

“i figured i could get like a handful of desroyers in my minign services thread to help me mine the badge sites…then i thought why just limit it to a handful of desroyers and just the badge sites

so i decided to try and get everyone involved on the chaos, i figured a day woul dbe too short and peopel might miss the chance, so i figured a week would give everyone a day to create chaos

i also figured it would be a great way to sorta keep the fictional aspect of the Torch of roder and Torch of Chaos going, keep epople in the CHAOS or order mindset and to have fun with it”

Many players stocked up on tools like mines and weapons, and added the “mine me” tag to others’ profiles, in preparation. But when those tags were removed, a player created a form for people to submit the names of “deserving” mine targets.

In the podcast, the Tubenauts discussed their strategies for participating in Chaos Week; my favorite was passing mines via crate to Shoats so that they could join in on the action. I asked drudge what he had done in advance of the event:

“as far as preperation goes, i saved up all my mines, portals and nicks. i bookmarked every forum thread that had peopel stashing creates so ic ould just open all 52 tabs up at once and easily check every page for free crates, did that to like 3 forum threads, i bookmarked every known torch of order participant who was being public about it and flaunting their goody-2-shoes around, i also bookmarked every staffers page/trustees. i got all the badge sites bookmarked as well so i could make sure to leave 10-20 mines each day one very badge site.”

I received a couple of tags and mines, but because I was away during the week I didn’t see much action. Luckily, I’d just received my Normandy badge a few weeks ago, so I did get to experience a bit of the Chaotic fun, but I am sad that I missed out on the madness. Thanks to the Tubenauts for filling me in – you guys are the bomb! (Ho ho ho.)

To the person who found this blog by searching for “dallas alternate reality games”

Let’s talk! I’ve been idly scoping out interesting numbers, signs and symbols, and there are plenty of geocaches. Plus I am always happy to recruit new people to the games I’m playing, which need local teams. Write me at lehall-at-gmail-dot-com.

This PMOGean Life

I think I missed posting this, the second edition of the PMOG comic – by me and the excellent tonedef, who willingly added in friendly kitties at my request, and who is therefore win.

Grappling Hook Wars

Some small gaming adventures this week, including the new WiiWare offering, Gyrostarr, but there’s not much one can say about steering a plane along a winding channel, except that it is fun and worth the seven bucks.

Funny funtimes with PMOG

Greetings, gentle reader,

I have visited distant lands, and while the challenges of surviving the journey have prevented me from posting here, I have much to share.

Last Tuesday I recorded a PMOG podcast, as a member of the Tubenauts, and it is about 20 minutes of pure game-related hilarity. Check it out here, and listen to the June 18 posting. It’s had over a hundred downloads so far…not too shabby!

Spore Wars

Ever since Kotaku leaked a version of the creature creator from Spore, I’ve seen little monsters popping up all over the place.

(As an aside, can you believe they got this list of people to create monsters? Beyond its sheer targeted, traffic-leading marketing brilliance, I am equal parts intrigued and terrified…but am also of course eagerly anticipating the results. Can David Lynch create something more disturbing than the baby in Eraserhead? Only time will tell.)

The leaked version of the creator is Windows-only, so I’ll have to wait til June 17 like the other Mac-owning plebes. To tide me over, Jey created this thoughtful portrait of me as a Spore creature:

Apparently among its many useful abilities are singing, gyration, and spitting acid out of the “gobstoppers” on its chest. Thank you, darling. It’s like looking into a mirror.

A tale of mystery and intrigue

Great story in the New York Times today that describes the power and magic of immersive puzzles and mysteries.

“Finally, one day last fall, more than a year after they moved in, Mr. Klinsky received a letter in the mail containing a poem that began:

We’ve taken liberties with Yeats

to lead you through a tale

that tells of most inspired fates

in hopes to lift the veil.

The letter directed the family to a hidden panel in the front hall that contained a beautifully bound and printed book, Ms. Bensko’s opus. The book led them on a scavenger hunt through their own apartment.”

This photo gallery shows many of the beautifully intricate puzzles and how they were subtly worked into the design of the home.

I read From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler as a kid, and still remember the intense feeling of wonder and potential it suggested; The Egypt Game, Bridge to Terabithia and The Westing Game are three other beloved titles that captured a similar feeling for me.

I think this house puzzle and books like The Da Vinci Code address a very real human desire for beauty and imagination in our everyday lives, as well as a need to sense something greater than oneself at work, and is part of the reason I play and write about games, today.

Another PMOG mission

Yesterday I published “The Seven Forgotten Modern Wonders of the World, as seen in film (via YouTube)”, a film tour of landmarks that are so well-known, they’re now just a part of the various city landscapes.

Growth spurt

What a difference a day makes!

FTLR – Theo’s desynchronization mission

I finished and submitted my mission today; you can check out the photos here.

My mission was:

“Plant Transplant–This task is about giving new life to objects that would otherwise no longer be seen or used and disrupting the routine and environments of both the task partner and the target.

1. Create a flower out of a couple of supplies found in your house, items that are old and tucked away somewhere to be forgotten.

2. Write a secret onto a small piece of paper and attach it somewhere on the flower, like the stem.

3. Take the flower to a house out of your way and plant it in the middle of a bed of flowers where it will be seen, a symbol of permanence among the transient.”

I didn’t end up putting mine in a bed of flowers, because everything is in bloom right now so it wouldn’t have stood out! Instead, I put it under a lone tree in the middle of a construction site (representing impermanence). I hope that one of the construction workers will find it and enjoy it; it’s a bit of color in the midst of a lot of dust and rubble. I also included a little bee friend that I made to keep the flower company until that happens.