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I deeply miss the golden era of ARGs circa the 2000s. I keep feeling the impulse to log onto the Unfiction Forums and check what's going on, but alas, even thos

I deeply miss the golden era of ARGs circa the 2000s. I keep feeling the impulse to log onto the Unfiction Forums and check what's going on, but alas, even those are gone now! Without a central watering hole, I think it'll be that much harder for the medium to come back—everything's siloed into separate Discords now, without a single sustaining community. It's not really possible to lurk or hop between games anymore, and scattershot chat messages are harder to catch up on than forum threads, and don't preserve as well or make for very good reading after a game is over. I'm probably younger than most of the crowd that was involved in that ARG scene, so I wanna say thanks for helping to create a piece of my childhood! I actually remember the name Six to Start and that there was a lot of hope behind it when it launched, so I'm glad to hear it's doing well.

coldpie 6y ago
Indeed, I still listen to the I Love Bees radio drama every couple years. I was in high school while that was happening and even took a day off school to go answer a payphone at the nearby University, where I met some older nerds :) Fond memories.
adrianhon 6y ago
Thanks! There are still new ARGs out there, though IMO not as focused on narrative or worldbuilding (especially through websites) as those in the 2000s. You're right about the fractured community, and I think to some extent ARGs are getting less accessible because they're hyper-targeted to specific communities that might be harder to discover or join. Six to Start is doing well and we still play around with ARG-like ideas in Zombies, Run! for our seasonal virtual races :)