Fatalism sucks

[Pixelmage]

Greyscale. I know what you mean. Hence why I said my post was a rant at the end. If I was serious about that line of thought I'd create a thread on General Discussion to deconstruct our achievements and prove (with SCIENCE!) that this whole ARG thing is pointless.

I didn't do that just because all I was doing was getting that feeling of uselessness out of my chest.

Ed is right, of course. So is Gurt and Adell. Let's keep this kicking.

[NeverSlender]

I think people are looking at this the wrong way. You're looking at how you've change things when you should be looking at how you've furthered things. Finding blogs, giving characters advice, finding echoes, piecing the URL together, solving the dancing men. This is the impact we have.

[Gurt]

On a side note, how would you have handled the situation if no one had written a story?

We're fictional. We can't lift a finger without an author. If no one wrote anything, you'd be having a starin contest with a Gorgon right now. I know that sounds like fun to Angel, but the rest of us might have a hard time of it.

[Scarab]

I think people are looking at this the wrong way. You're looking at how you've change things when you should be looking at how you've furthered things. Finding blogs, giving characters advice, finding echoes, piecing the URL together, solving the dancing men. This is the impact we have.

This. Without us the game wouldn't be happening AT ALL. We're pushing things forwards, we ARE making things happen in that way, and we do throw an unstable element into things.

On a side note, how would you have handled the situation if no one had written a story?

We're fictional. We can't lift a finger without an author. If no one wrote anything, you'd be having a starin contest with a Gorgon right now. I know that sounds like fun to Angel, but the rest of us might have a hard time of it.

Never before have I been so glad for the existence of creative ability.
Although technically that is what got us into this mess in the first place... Oh well, at least we can fix what we break.

[Dryunya]

Well, with so much ranting I think I've hit a nerve. At least it's reassuring to know I'm not alone in that.

I'm not entirely sure how seriously we can take the answers from the AMA. They were mostly about dartboards, toilets and fridges.

I beg to differ! It's just that these questions are the memorable ones (because they were hilarious). The fun thing is that we didn't really have many questions to Mr. A. I, for example, only really needed one - the one about the moral implications. And that one was answered, and I'm quite pleased with that. As I said, if Mr. A took his time to address us sometimes, there'd be no riot. The rest of my questions were mostly about himself, his nature and EC canon, and I think I got a boatload of information.
But that's absolutely off topic.

Guys, I'm an Ascended Lime. I wouldn't even exist if you hadn't made an inside joke, run with it, and submitted it as a story to Mr. A--in a contest that was your idea!

No offense, Gurt, but I've raised that point back in the megathread: the metaguard idea was approved because, technically, it didn't require to alter the plot. At all. It's just that we had something to do, and you get some random encounters here and there.
That said, though, I adore the metaguard subplot. It's that emergent behaviour that actually brings life to it. Maybe we need to find some other subplot to occupy ourselves?

I think people are looking at this the wrong way. You're looking at how you've change things when you should be looking at how you've furthered things. Finding blogs, giving characters advice, finding echoes, piecing the URL together, solving the dancing men. This is the impact we have.

That's the most reasonable thing I've heard in this entire thread, but there's a problem with that, too. Which is, we're kinda not getting to do anything. There were two things we were doing lately - waiting and speculating. I know we are supposed to go meta-knight the hell out of the echoes, but I can't do that, no matter how much I bite my elbows about it. Even that dancing men puzzle - it was frustrating as hell, but at least I knew where to dig.
...I think Joe's comment about the speculation being a second-grade activity has stung me more than I think it did.

[NeverSlender]

I think your frustrations are down to timescale. We had a lot of stuff to do but it's started to slow down. Long runners always have pacing issues. More things will come in time. And speculating has as much value as you put into it. If you feel it's worthwhile who's to say it isn't?

[Dryunya]

It isn't. We haven't moved an inch with the Cabal. It's the same story as back then when we tried to prove that Holmes' client is Moriarty - and, in fact, we're doing it again. It's inconclusive, and I don't even think we are to find Cabal on the net - unlike us, they actually give a damn about hiding their discussions.
Basically, all we get is some rough estimate to point to and say "told you" when the solution is thrown at us.

[Pixelmage]

No offense, Gurt, but I've raised that point back in the megathread: the metaguard idea was approved because, technically, it didn't require to alter the plot. At all. It's just that we had something to do, and you get some random encounters here and there.
That said, though, I adore the metaguard subplot. It's that emergent behaviour that actually brings life to it. Maybe we need to find some other subplot to occupy ourselves?

So, Dryu, what say you we actually make a real proposal for the Humanoid Interface?

[NeverSlender]

It isn't. We haven't moved an inch with the Cabal. It's the same story as back then when we tried to prove that Holmes' client is Moriarty - and, in fact, we're doing it again. It's inconclusive, and I don't even think we are to find Cabal on the net - unlike us, they actually give a damn about hiding their discussions.
Basically, all we get is some rough estimate to point to and say "told you" when the solution is thrown at us.

How long ago did we find the cabal? Only a few days. This could be a long running plot thread over months. ARGs can last years, we're not gonna solve everything quickly.

[Dryunya]

How long ago did we find the cabal? Only a couple of days. This could be a long running plot thread over months. ARGs can last years, we're not gonna solve everything quickly.

Actually, almost a week now. I see your point, though, and you are right. It just suck not to do anything.

Which is why...

So, Dryu, what say you we actually make a real proposal for the Humanoid Interface?

[Gurt]

No offense, Gurt, but I've raised that point back in the megathread: the metaguard idea was approved because, technically, it didn't require to alter the plot.

Medusa would have crossed if you had not stopped her. It took a lot of muscle on The Big Guy's part to get my team in place on the far side of the Wall. The metaguard idea was approved because it was a good idea.

My team can't do their job if you guys don't realize how much power you actually have.

[NeverSlender]

GMs really shouldn't be allowed on meta threads.

[Scarab]

GMs really shouldn't be allowed on meta threads.

He's trying to encourage us, I appreciate the effort.

An ARG is what an ARG is: a game, a certain involvement from the players is nessecary and CAN change things and I think we'll have the potential to do that again in the future. The game wouldn't exist if it weren't for us. I'm not sure if fatalism is the best mindset to take. That is a game we're all playing. The game will have rules and events that simply have to take place, there's only so much free will the GMS can compensate for before all their plans come unravelled and I suspect we'll have the chance to affect things more in the future.