Walking the Edge of Reality

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Walking the Edge of Reality

A look behind the curtain to my world...

Fictional Reality
Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:21 AM

This has been a rather interesting year in the ARG world so far, you gotta admit. There have been numerous controversies as of late, many of which put in to question the little "sandbox" we all play in, as well as questioning the boundaries between the "real world" and the "make believe" world of alternate reality games.

The latest chapter to this involves the story of one "Martin Aggett". We have all been relating with him, talking with him as if he were one of us. He even wrote an article for ARGNet, and in the comments came to my personal defense (for which I am extremely grateful, and intended to respond properly but didn't find the time).

Now, as it turns out, "Martin Aggett" doesn't exist, at least not in the way we know him. The creator of Martin contacted me recently, sending me the apology that is now public knowledge days before he posted it. But what I found curious is what his expectations were: he was expecting me to be angry, betrayed, upset. I wasn't, not in the least bit. Puzzled, sure, but certainly not upset.

Why? Well, first of all, I never got as emotionally attached as many others have. Except for a few people that I am very close to (my "partners in crime" at Darklight, high school acquaintances, the former members of RedeemedSoft, etc...), I try not to do that with online acquaintances; on the Internet, with thousands of miles separating us, with the very unpersonal interfaces we use (forums, blogs, Twitter, IM, etc...), one can really only get so close.

Secondly, like I said, this is the Internet; in one way or another, however minimal it may be, we're all playing a role here, we're all creating an online persona that may differ from who we are in the real world. All my online acquaintances (with the few exceptions noted above) I treat differently than those I have in the real world. I express myself differently online, fulfilling a role I only have on the Internet.

Think about it... Do you know me better as "David" or as "Nighthawk"? In the ARG player community, how many people do you know by their real name, or at least know them better by their real name? Heck, my wife doesn't even know my online nickname!

In a sense, we're all roleplaying. I think someone said at one point that an ARG is a roleplaying game in which you play yourself; that's kinda true of the Internet as a whole.

But, in the end, it all comes down to "playground rules". Our little world that is unFiction has certain guidelines, guidelines that have been time tested and exist for very specific reasons. We may not like them (I've been known to go against them now and then myself), but they are a necessity to maintain a sense of order in the world which we play.

To "The Person Formerly Known as Martin": I can only assume you're reading this. For what it's worth, I admire you being up front and open about the situation, revealing the truth before the world truly collapsed around you. As others have stated, let this be one more learning experience to all would-be puppetmasters out there.

*ADDENDUM*

One thing I forgot to mention... the concept of creating fictional characters online is certainly not foreign to me. I, in the same manner as many PMs, like to give our characters substance. I attempt to create an online presence for my characters as best I can.

When I was developing "Downstream", I created the Facebook profile for our "cheerleader in distress", Jennifer Summers. Part of the creation of that page involved me "friending" at least forty students from her graduating year at the Celebration High School, something that I was admittedly very uncomfortable doing (especially considering some of those people I was "friending" were under the age of 18).

The difference between what I did and what "Martin" did? Although many of the people I "friended" approved me without batting an eye, others asked "who the hell are you?". To those, or to any person that wasn't playing the game, I did not respond. I knew to only play the role with people who were actively playing. Everyone who wasn't part of the game was met with dead air.

(On a semi-related note... Creating a Facebook profile containing an attractive, young girl such as Jen attracts a certain, exceedingly creepy audience. I lost count how many messages I got from way older guys hitting on her.)

I can run off numerous other cases similar. I've received actual, legitimate resumes and job applications through the DecepTech "contact us" form and email addresses. The Matrix Runners have received offers to do link exchanges. List goes on and on.

For all of these, again, I did not respond at all. I chose to not propagate the myth with people that didn't know it was a myth in the first place. "Martin" technically didn't have anyone to play with yet; his game hasn't even started.

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:21 AM

3 comments [ View Comments ]

Posted by Star Spider on Friday, June 19, 2009 6:49 PM

Well said! Sounds about right to me!
As I am no longer posting on Unfiction - you have my blog link in the 'website' portion of this form! :)

Posted by Joe Iriarte on Friday, July 03, 2009 12:16 AM

I don't agree at all that all posting on the internet is role-playing. Are my physical attributes so all-fired important that they change the essence of who I am? Would my posts at Sakeriver mean something different if I were skinnier or taller or a woman? People *can* play a role online, sure, but they can play a role in person too. Liars and con-men are not a new phenomenon that didn't exist before the internet. The only difference is that now people can lie about different specific things. I can claim to look other than I do, and if you don't know me in meatspace, it's hard to know I'm lying. But in the end, so what? That's just one more thing I can lie about, in an infinite list of things I can lie about, online or off.

In my opinion, the essence of who I am isn't in my physical appearance, it's in the content of my ideas, and I share those pretty freely. In fact, I'd say I share those more freely online than off, because online I know people have the freedom to pay attention or not, and so I don't worry that I might be boring people. I don't have a single coworker or neighbor that knows me as well as the regulars at Sakeriver do.

P.S.: Icarus's Labyrinth has two S's. :)

Posted by Nighthawk on Friday, July 03, 2009 11:28 PM

"P.S.: Icarus's Labyrinth has two S's. :)"

Now that's just crazy talk...

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