Asking for it: rEALITY eNDS' Identity.

[Pixelmage]

Disclaimer: I'm not asking the GMs for the info.

Ok, before anything, in light of some recent tweets.

"So, did you ever find out who rEALITY eNDS was?" "Yes... we know who rEALITY is.#argfest"

@Blurred_L Yes. And rEALITY is a nice person that didn't realize what they were doing until things got out of hand. Foolish, but a good egg.

@Blurred_L @TwoToTheFifth of course not! Who do you think e are, anyway?

I think it's about time we did this. I can only speak for myself for now, but I expect others would follow the lead... We don't hold anything against rEALITY, not anymore anyhow. If anything, he's the most successful troll / derailer / hijacker of our ARG. And we don't know who he is. Hell, if anything, THINK OF THE ARCHIVE! ^_^ We're missing that information, and if nothing else it would be interesting to know who to call when we want to make puzzles and stuff.

So, I'm not asking the GMs, I'm asking you rEALITY, to come forward and tell us who you are. The GMs know, so that alone means no one can falsely claim the title. Of course, we can't force you, but if you're here or watching this in any manner, can you please just consider it?

[TheJester]

If anything, he's the most successful troll / derailer / hijacker of our ARG.

Welp I feel a little insulted... Just kidding.

Even though I was never actually there for the incident he started. I sort of wish I was, as that probably would have been something interesting. Nevertheless, time flies and I would personally like to meet the man if I ever could.

[Lordxana0]

Well I don't think it is right to praise someone for doing something that is wrong just because they did it in an impressive way... well I would like to know who did it. I hold no grudge and at least put the mystery to rest.

[narrativedilettante]

I wasn't aware of rEALITY until after the fuss died down. I'm extremely curious to know who they were, and hold no grudges (seeing as I wasn't even paying close attention at the time).

That said, I will understand if whoever it was does not choose to share their identity. I believe in the right to privacy, and if rEALITY chooses to exercise that right, that's their decision.

[Tom]

I don't honestly think they did anything wrong.

Early in the design process, I asked--what if a player sees R&J's blog, and thinks the way you're supposed to play is making a blog like R&J's? We discussed it, and didn't think it was a serious risk, so we didn't prepare a plan B.

That was the first mistake we made. You can't blame a player for making the designers' mistake.

The second mistake we made was nuking rEALITY from orbit when they became inconvenient. If we'd found a way to find out whether rEALITY was a troll or a misguided player, we would have realized they were trying to play. We could have figured out a way to incorporate them into our broader plot in a way that didn't distract so much.

Part of why we did not do this was overreaction. I was worried we'd only get a cryptic response from rEALITY. If we got a sincere response, I worried we'd have no way to know if they were trolling us, and playing a long con. Ultimately, we'd have no control over his Twitter account, so we couldn't shut him down if he went rogue.

Had we thought this through carefully, we could have found ways around these issues. We know now that rEALITY would have replied in a sincere way and not a cryptic one. There were ways to authenticate their identity that I did not think of at the time. And we could have said that they could be a part of the story if and only if they surrendered the password (and changed the primary email address) of the Twitter account, so we had full access.

So we'll be remembering all that for next time.

Short version: rEALITY did not break the ARG. They were trying to play it.

[Sophira]

To add to what Tom said, remember that in addition to rEALITY, we also had @OneirosObserver and Alice as other people who were also trying to play the game in this manner - it wasn't just rEALITY. If it was, things may have been able to go differently, but then again, maybe not; it didn't happen that way, so we don't know.

This isn't to blame anybody for doing what they did - it was our fault for not coming up with a plan B, as Tom said.

[TheJester]

I don't honestly think they did anything wrong.

Early in the design process, I asked--what if a player sees R&J's blog, and thinks the way you're supposed to play is making a blog like R&J's? We discussed it, and didn't think it was a serious risk, so we didn't prepare a plan B.

That was the first mistake we made. You can't blame a player for making the designers' mistake.

The second mistake we made was nuking rEALITY from orbit when they became inconvenient. If we'd found a way to find out whether rEALITY was a troll or a misguided player, we would have realized they were trying to play. We could have figured out a way to incorporate them into our broader plot in a way that didn't distract so much.

Part of why we did not do this was overreaction. I was worried we'd only get a cryptic response from rEALITY. If we got a sincere response, I worried we'd have no way to know if they were trolling us, and playing a long con. Ultimately, we'd have no control over his Twitter account, so we couldn't shut him down if he went rogue.

Had we thought this through carefully, we could have found ways around these issues. We know now that rEALITY would have replied in a sincere way and not a cryptic one. There were ways to authenticate their identity that I did not think of at the time. And we could have said that they could be a part of the story if and only if they surrendered the password (and changed the primary email address) of the Twitter account, so we had full access.

So we'll be remembering all that for next time.

Short version: rEALITY did not break the ARG. They were trying to play it.

You described what I tried to do in a way even I couldn't (Only difference being that I did it poorly). Kudos.

It is sad that almost about 100% of people who do this are labelled trolls even though usually that only really accounts for about 60% of them.