The Black Watchmen - Arg

[Santiak]

Heyho folks,

Being an avid fan of ARGs (Augmented Reality Game), I thought I'd tell you a bit about an upcoming one; The Black Watchmen. While ARGs usually only last a set amount of time, The Black Watchmen will be a persistent on.

In case you want to go have a look without reading the rant below, here's the link to the games current front-page - there you'll find the official forums, as well as various Q&A information about the various aspects of the game: http://www.mmorpg.com/pledge.cfm

You can also give the pre-beta ARG event created for this game a try here: http://division-66.com/terminal/bw01/

 

Finally, you can also find the official IRC channel here: https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.freenode.net/division66 , where the people in there - which includes the Devs themselves (Human Equation) - will be more than happy to welcome you, and answer any questions or concerns you may have. :)
 

What's an ARG? You might ask. Well, some would refer to them as "Role-playing games", others as "Puzzle games", but they cannot be so neatly defined, unfortunately.
ARGs blur the line between fact and fiction; some puzzles may require you to find the destination of an area shown from a sattelite photo, others may require you to have knowledge within fields of study, ranging from art to physics to politics, and others again may require you to physically go to a location to investigate it.
This also means, that because of the way fact and fiction is blurred within ARGs, one might feasibly call it a role-playing game, but only in the sense, that you as a character is part of the game; you don't have to (but can) roleplay as anyone other than yourself.
Beyond the usual format for ARGs, The Black Watchmen will also make use of the real-world to a larger degree than other games made by the same company (Human Equation). Much like "Ingress", you might find you prefer to be out and about in the real world, and look for "Rupture sites".

Which neatly brings us to the story of the game: The story so far, since it's still very early days, it's not all fleshed out. There's an organisation that deals with the things that go bump in the night, so to speak. Recently, ruptures of unkown origin have started to appear across the globe, and in very rare cases cause mutations in humans that manage to survive venturing close to these rupture sites. Whether or not they are a natural phenomenon is still to be seen, but foreign objects have been located in conjunction with these sites. As a player, you are part of this agency, and depending on your class, your "duties" will vary.

What's special about this ARG, then?
As mentioned, The Black Watchmen (TBW) will be the first persistent ARG; it won't end. That's not to say failing a mission doesn't have repercussions, just that even the fallout of failed missions dictates in which direction the game goes.

Unlike prior ARGs, TBW will also encourage players to go out into the world, and use the accompanying "Companion App" in various ways, likely depending on what class the players choose.
Classes is also a relative newcommer to ARGs, but initially, it only dictates what types of missions you are offered most. You might for example be offered more missions that require Real World Knowledge as a Scientist - i.e. knowledge about subjects ranging from art to physics and everything in between - but you'll still be offered missions that require Tactical Skill, which is a skill that both the "Soldier" and "Sniper" score high in; missions that rely on reflexes and extended period of concentration. As you keep doing a specific type of mission, your "skill" will increase - this "Skill level" is only indicative of the frequency with which you'll be offered certain missions, the skills needed to complete said missions, is entirely up to you.
As a skill increases, it opens up for the oppertunity of being "promoted" to new classes, which are created as necessity for them increase - in other words, you could be the first "Major"-class in the game, if you, for example, choose Scientist, but tend to keep to missions that fall within the Soldiers area of expertise.

Since it is an Augmented Reality Game, the game might interact with your reality on a higher basis; anything from phone-calls to interacting with hired actors, to information found in your area being incorporated into puzzles, to a week-long event designed specifically around your participation. The last one is currently reserved for top-tier backers, but might also become rewards for players down the line.

When you sign up, you can opt-in for different levels of participation;
Red will be a one-way street, more or less. You won't get phone-calls, but you'll be able to help solve missions just like everyone else.
Orange will be the half-way point, you might get phone calls with odd messages, be contacted by another agent - managed by the developers - and so on.
Yellow, the highest readily available tier, is not to be taken lightly. Here the interaction is not only from you to the game, but also from the game to you; A van parked outside your house, real-life encounters with actors hired by the developer, for example picking up a package needed for a mission, all fall within this category.
Green is the final current "Clearence level"; not much is known about it, not even what it entails or how it can be obtained. The only thing we know, is a couple of players have managed to find out how to gain Green clearence level, and that it likely follows the increase in interaction seen in the previous levels,

The game is being developed by Human Equation, which some of you might have heard of, who are proverbial veterans in the field - and on a personal note, I can confirm that all of the scenarios mentioned above are very plausible, as their funding doesn't go to creating a virtual world for you to interact with, but towards having the real world interact with you.

The game is still in the funding stages; if they achieve their goal of $100k, the game is a go, and the development starts. If not, all donations will be refunded. As I hope the game reaches this goal, this is also the reason for me w


On a personal note, you might be weary about joining in for various reasons; perhaps you aren't too keen on showing off your mental aptitude, but I can honestly say, that I have yet to see anyone be ridiculed for not getting the right answer - we're all in the same boat, and every wrong answer helps in finding the right one. This notion of everyone being in it together, also means that the community is very welcoming - on top of that, we're very keen to see more join us.
I can safely say, that I haven't had an adrenaline rush as great, as I've had playing ARGs - at least not since I played Tribes 2 competitively. There is simply no greater sensation - to me at least - than seeing a problem you've worked on for days together with hundreds, if not thousands, of other players, finally being solved - nor have I had as much fun, nor learnt as many interesting facts while doing so.

I think that's enough ranting for now. If you read this far, thank you, and I implore you once more to check out the games currently official site, join the IRC channel, or give the pre-beta ARG a try.

As already mentioned, players are more than happy to help you, should you have any questions or concerns about the game.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Santiak