Alternate Reality Game (ARG)

[flory24]

Well, that certainly explains things to me. Lots of the little messages, clues etc fit in completely with this theory. . We all thought we might be in a game but it was hard to pin down. This puts it into perspective for me. Going to go and have a long think in a dark room about this............



'This Is Not A Game (TINAG) - Setting the ARG form apart from other games is the This Is Not A Game aesthetic, which dictates that the game not behave like a game: phone numbers mentioned in the ARG, for example, should actually work, and the game should not provide an overtly-designated playspace or ruleset to the players.'
 
Now that reminds me of that fake website for Dr Murray's lawyers. The phone numbers worked and in some cases people answered them but fake fake fake..............


i found more about ARG

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Viral marketing/internet hoaxes. While ARGs are often used as a type of viral marketing, they diverge sharply from the philosophy behind "sponsored consumers" or other viral marketing practices that attempt to trick consumers into believing that planted shills for a product are other independent consumers. Similarly, they also diverge from sites or narratives that genuinely try to convince visitors that they are what they claim to be. Puppetmasters generally leave both subtle and overt clues to the game's fictional nature and boundaries where players can find them (e.g. through clearly fictional names on site registrations) and many ARGs openly flaunt obviously fictional plots.

Basic design principles of ARGs
 

•Designing for a hive mind. While it might be possible to follow the game individually, the design was directed at a collective of players that shared information and solutions almost instantly, and incorporated individuals possessing almost every conceivable area of expertise. While the game might initially attract a small group of participants, as they came across new challenges, they would reach out and draw in others with the knowledge they needed to overcome the obstacles.
•Collaborative storytelling. While the puppetmasters controlled most of the story, they incorporated player content and responded to players' actions, analysis and speculation by adapting the narrative and intentionally left "white space" for the players to fill in.

This is the accurate description of what we are dealing with 
 

[bec]

The phone number Paris put on Twitter for her security worked too. I talked to someone who did say he was security [for] Paris Jackson.

[curls]

wiki article also states ARGs " tend to be free to play, with costs absorbed either through supporting products ......... or through promotional relationships with existing products .........."

Fits nicely with your recent comments Bec on how all this has been free!

[flory24]

I think this thing isn't been startred for some hoax believers but for the whole world:
-to see what music bussines is about - the stress, the pain, the pressure, of course the joy, but also the artists not beeing able to live their own life....
-maybe to show how to change some things by careing for each other and spread some love in this terrible money related world...
-If this whole case is an ARG, TINI might play a huge part in the hoax to make the pain public....  They reach so many people over youtoube, The Tribute Portrait, Facebook, Twitter,

There was someone called  'Puppet Master' posting clues and comments on the TMZ forum under the Michael Jackson topics. Apparently, he had been around since way back in July 2009. Some of the clues were quite strange. This would support the theory of the game.

Figuring out the clues is part of the game, interesting & fun....There are some aspects to this hoax that I think were put in place on purpose. Hoax sites, JonnellStarTV, Youtube clues, JCC clues, & much more. Alot of the clues we find seem to be so convienent.

What do you guys think....

[diggyon]

Now I'm totally confused!!! I thought TS said in one of his quotes that the hoax is not for entertaining reasons and that we should take it seriously. Could someone please post the quote? > confused, so confused, very confused.....

[emulik]

Figuring out the clues is part of the game, interesting & fun....There are some aspects to this hoax that I think were put in place on purpose. Hoax sites, JonnellStarTV, Youtube clues, JCC clues, & much more. Alot of the clues we find seem to be so convienent.

What do you guys think....

agree with you flory! all those social media networks sites with hoax death purpose were probably made for keeping attention and making us digg deeper, think outside the box to find the real truth. So finally general public will be able to get to know real Michael-loving father, humanitarian, good businessman, wonderful human being..I so hunger for that day when his name will be cleared!!

P.S.thanks Wishy for this interesting thread!

[MJonmind]

Yep, this is big, with a lot of highly skilled people involved.

I guess we should thank Coca Cola, Snickers and more for our FREE fun here.

Bec, I still think it's more:  That's why it's explosive, planetary and historical and maybe even Biblical. IMO

TS: Finally: is this hoax a prank, or a Thriller II reality movie, or an ARG, or a sting operation, or a Vendetta, or an NWO/EOW warning, or a wake-up call to the gullible public (don't believe everything in the media), etc--which is it?  And the answer is: all of the above!  It is something that people have never seen before, at least not the combination of these things and on this scale.

Wishingstar this is the guy but he's not our TJ, although no pic. He works for Dreamworks.
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Flory24 quoted:

Puppetmaster – A puppetmaster or "PM" is an individual involved in designing and/or running an ARG. Puppetmasters are simultaneously allies and adversaries to the player base, creating obstacles and providing resources for overcoming them in the course of telling the game's story. Puppetmasters generally remain behind the curtain while a game is running.[3] The real identity of puppet masters may or may not be known ahead of time.

Well, I immediately thought of TS with his ‘slippery’ ways. You couldn’t always tell if he was telling the truth. I still don't believe MJ left in that airplane on the 25th, but was right in the carrying out of the hoax like a dirty shirt.

"Hive mind", hmm, we do have a queen bee too! :icon_lol:

[bugsy]

I too think it's something more maybe even all the possibilities rolled in to one hoax, to bring his fans into something, I doubt he would cater only for a certain "audience" I would think there was something for everyone in it, Lighter stuff for the younger ones and feint hearted and much more serious educaiton for the more serious ones, Arg, movie, education of the illuminati, one world governments, even spiritual... it definitely is multi-layered and seems to expand across many different subjects. If you think about all the different things that's been involved especially with education. I have learnt so much in the time i've been researching/investigating, about medicines, the law, governments even maths... it has something for everyone of all ages, even the young ones take away the lesson of taking care of our planet, to follow their dreams and to reach high and believe you can reach the furthest star if you put your mind to it. I can't really put into words what I feel this master piece of Michael's is about or what it actually is it makes me speachless just thinking of genius thinking behind it.

I keep thinking back to his announcement of the partnership with Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal and kingdom Entertainment, I bolded the bits that repeat in my mind when ever I read something new

""I would like to welcome all the journalists and press who are covering this historic press conference. For reasons I will soon share with you, Kingdom Entertainment represents a long awaiting dream come true.
My earliest inspiration to be actively involved in all facets of the global multi-media explosion was derived from decades of travelling throughout the world.

During these continous concert tours, I was made privy to the heartbeats of millions of fans who willingly shared with me their hopes, loves, fears and most importantly, their desire for a better life. It was during this time that I first began to appreciate that the proper approach to global family entertainment could go a long way in addressing these concerns.

Until recently, my hectic schedule and outstanding professional commitments left me little chance to develop specific strategies for the development of a total integrated global entertainment complex. All that began to change 18 months ago when I first met my friend and partner in the Kingdom Entertainment, HRH Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal. In short order it was clear we shared the same goals and approches on how to make global entertainment a reality.

Through Kingdom Entertainment the Prince and myself will combine human and financial resources to be successful in all phases of the multi-media revolution. As examples, we intend to be active in theme parks and hotels, feature films, animation, recordings, publishing, tours, children's books, educational entertainment, character licencing and merchandising.

In closing, to all those millions who have encouraged me to get involved with global entertainment based on family values I can proudly say: Because of Kingdom Entertainment and my partner Prince Al Waleed, "You Are Not Alone". "

[BeTheChange]

@Wish...GREAT idea for a thread!  The ARG aspect of the hoax has sprung up many times and it's a really good idea to try to keep 'thoughts' in one place...and also to revive the topic, since it is pretty clear (in most minds) that there IS an ARG going on. 

Our attention was drawn early on to this genre of gaming.  Under the username S.T.U.D.Y., we were directed to look into Joey Skaggs:

"This Is It … The Final Curtain Call"

The "final curtain call" is a very interesting phrase, which was used during the London press conference for the O2 "This Is It" performances (note: even if it was a double, MJ himself was still the author of the message given).

Here is a transcript of the key statement (at 4 min, 35 sec): "This is it, I mean this is really it; this is the final — this is the final curtain call." {click here}. Let’s look at two aspects of that phrase: the "final curtain", and then the "curtain call".

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The "Final Curtain"

"Final Curtain" is the name of a hoax about death that was started in September of 1998! It was designed by Joey Skaggs, and you can read about it on the Museum of Hoaxes website {click here}; on the Final Curtain website {click here}; and on Skaggs’ own website {click here; also click here}. I have selected a few very interesting statements from these websites, as well as from a few other sources.

"In 1998, Skaggs put together an international team of volunteer writers, artists, and designers to create The Final Curtain … It was immediately accepted by the public as a reality without question. … Skaggs always leaves clues in his [hoax] performances." {click here}

"… the Final Curtain hoax was two years in the making, and involved dozens of co-conspirators. … Numerous talented writers and artists, some of whom prefer to remain anonymous for professional reasons, created an elaborate and convincing nonexistent virtual business under Skaggs’ creative direction." {click here}

"JOEY SKAGGS has been staging hoaxes—to lampoon the media, to lampoon the culture, but never to make money—for 34 years. Some hoaxes are huge and take place over the course of years … THE SIGNS WERE THERE for journalists who doubted Final Curtain. But they didn't. … Part of participating in Final Curtain was agreeing to keep my mouth shut until it was time to reveal the hoax. … Final Curtain wasn't intended to make money; it was intended to draw attention to two issues—the media's wicked ways, as we've seen, and the death industry." {click here}

Wikipedia on Joey Skaggs: "The Final Curtain … It was meant to satirize showmanship in places like Forest Lawn cemeteries." {click here}

Although a different MJ, notice the name of a person who reported about the Final Curtain: "KRLA, CBS, Los Angeles, Michael Jackson, 10-25-1999" {click here; also click here}

"This [Final Curtain] was a really sophisticated prank with a lot of people involved. … Media hoaxing has a bright, promising future [after the year 2,000!?!]. All we can hope is that the hoaxers are smarter than the media." {click here}

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Final Curtain Hoax and MJ Hoax Parallels

#1 The hoaxes were directly related to "1998".

#2 The hoaxes were all about "death".

#3 The hoaxes had a large "team" involving "numerous talented co-conspirators" (all agreeing to secrecy until the time to remove the "curtain").

#4 The hoaxes were "huge", "elaborate", "sophisticated", and "convincing".

#5 Yet the hoax directors "always left clues" and "THE SIGNS WERE THERE" for the few who really wanted to know the truth.

#6 In spite of the clues, the hoaxes were "immediately accepted by the public as a reality without question".

#7 Both hoaxes had a person involved named "MICHAEL JACKSON"!

#8 Both hoaxes refer specifically to "Forest Lawn cemeteries".

#9 The purpose of these hoaxes is to draw public attention to the "media’s wicked ways" (reporting as truth that which they have not carefully investigated, etc).

And these nine "coincidences" are in addition to the "1998" and "7" codes, which point so strikingly to 9-9-09!

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TS then arrived on the scene, and very early on in the redirects we were directed to more ARG references:

The 6th redirect was about Joey Skaggs:
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The 8th redirect was about the Alternate Reality Game (ARG) Year Zero:
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There were also other redirects that 'hinted' at an ARG...like Art is Resistance, performance art, conceptual art, etc.  TS and TS_comments also mentioned ARG's in the updates and posts (I don't have time now to find the posts).

Here's an interesting interview with Joey Skaggs:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z4daqugkHY[/youtube]

Whether or not the entire purpose of the hoax is simply an ARG (a 'game')...or whether instead of THE purpose, the ARG is/was the 'tool' used to achieve the purpose, remains to be seen.  Based on everything to date, I tend to think it's the latter...but there's a LOT of 'evidence' that shows 1) 'it' IS a hoax, and 2) we've been a part of some kind of ARG for the past 3+ years.

And 3) it's been the wildest ride of a lifetime!

With L.O.V.E. always.

[flory24]

Life is one big game of "Clue"....the only difference with this is...its more interactive and more challenging...

....you will definitely stretch some brain cells on this one!....and it's not for the "faint of heart"

......once you start....you can't stop!

The real identity of puppet masters may or may not be known ahead of time.
 
they can fool you only if you let them fool you...

i always said be careful with clues, signs etc. we might not know who is directing them towards us
Lots of the little messages, clues etc fit in completely with this theory. . We all thought we might be in a game but it was hard to pin down. This puts it into perspective for me.they can keep spreading lies, deceit and confusion. With L.O.V.E, unity, understanding,  friendship and faith we will win this battle.
 Let the haters go jump in the sea.
We will prove to them that we THINK and know how to use our brains wisely, and we do not take anything for grantedthey will be memories soon, and we will laugh at them and enjoy "the good old days" trust me.
 We just need to have faith and stay strong. It's also good to give them a piece of our minds from time to time, to put them in their right places and teach them not to mess with us...it is too accurate description of what we are dealing with, it cannot be something else.
it matches so perfectly.
 
we are part of the game. whose game? when will the game be over?
 
will the puppetmaster be ever introduced to us?

>Collaborative storytelling. While the puppetmasters controlled most of the story, they incorporated player content and responded to players' actions, analysis and speculation by adapting the narrative and intentionally left "white space" for the players to fill in.<

That's why we always wondered about popping up the answers of questions we just discussed....

Invisible theater is another form of manipulating people, but it's a more direct form (used by actors in public places for example)

Even if we and lots of other people try hard to change the world, we will just be a minority. It's not just the music and show business, people always seek to make more money, to become richer to have more than maybe their neighbour etc etc... it all starts in much smaller fields than the showbiz. There will always be people who step out of the "team" and cheat.
we cannot save the whole world, but, as I said before, the ocean is made of many, many, many drops. All we have to do is to believe in the power of love and of being positive and to show this to the others through our own example. I'm surprised about how many friends I moved since this "game" begun...and this only because I dared to open my mouth and speak; and because I came with some easy proposals about how to begin to make a change. The simple confidence in my words and actions helped others to do the same and to add a brick to this building which foundation I have started. And we never know where we can reach only by having faith...Don't give up: start with little things, or continue your actions if you already started, without trying to change the world...if we join our hearts we can make a difference, even if it will be on a lower level, we can inspire other people to do the same and this can only be for the best.
 
And we should not expect to change the media - it's their job to make catchy headlines even if they turn around words - and who buys them? We do!!!

The one thing we don’t know is who is the man behind the curtain?  Is he back there pulling ropes and pouring more liquid hydrogen in the fog machine?  Is he setting up the mirrors for the next phase?  Or is there even a man behind the curtain anymore at all?

[bec]

Shikster told us in July or August of 2009 to look at PT Barnum and his book. He directed us to watch a Pepsi commercial from the Dangerous era with a depiction of Tiny Tim in it with MJ. He would say no more but I ran with it and discovered a ton of parallels between Barnum's life n death and MJ's work and "death". I didn't know he meant the whole thing was a circus! Nor did I fully realize he was a puppetmaster in his own right.

I think we have made many accidental connections while researching these side stories because the human brain likes to find connections and make order out of disorder, a fact of our biological nature which muddies the waters and blurs the line between fiction and fact even more. We filled in a whole lot of white space in the course of 3+ years! We had to be given something to do to pass the time, else we might have stopped playing.

Now I'm totally confused!!! I thought TS said in one of his quotes that the hoax is not for entertaining reasons and that we should take it seriously. Could someone please post the quote? > confused, so confused, very confused.....

I didn't believe him but he made me doubt myself when he took such a harsh tone. If you reread him a few times you realize what he is NOT saying, however. Slippery he is, very slippery. However, I think myself and my cohorts like-minded were on the verge of blowing the whole thing off it's tracks with our light hearted frivolous attitudes at the time. We needed to go with the reality that TS was spinning right then, it was too soon for us to see so clearly, we would have spoiled our own fun, so the scolding was necessary. As was the tone.

I do wonder who TS is though, still. He may well be MJ but he doesn't have to BE any one person. "He" may just be an account, like Front is an account. Did MJ ever man the keyboard when logged in under TS username? Probably, sure. Was MJ ALWAYS the one manning the keyboard when logged in under TS username? Not necessarily, especially when TS stated he is NOT MJ. That wasn't him. I  don't think he would directly lie, besides, he wouldn't need to. Just grab someone else in the room and have THEM type that denial. Behold! It's not a lie.

TS is for real though, and so is SOME of his information. The line between truth and fiction is very flexible, very vague, not easy to discern. It may be impossible to tell for certain until all is said n done and bamsday is upon us, but in light of this and everything else we have been through in the course of this game play, I am bolstered to believe his deadline is more then prophetic.

Unless it's the ultimate mind fuk... and we will be so cocky and sure of ourselves and our newly comprehended reality that we need to get knocked off our feet and driven back into the emotional rollercoaster with the ultimate let down just prior to the ultimate elation... and 1/1/2013 comes n goes n here we sit, deflated, defeated, depressed, and driven to the brink of our self confidence.

Man, I hope not. That would suck a whole bunch. Not again... please, not again... Happy New Year! Here's a prozac cuz you're gonna need one to face the world this year...

Nah. You gotta believe something. I chose to believe those words of TS, even if I am cherry picking here.

[ellyd]

Most entertaining sitcom ever, having us on screen not couch.

TS changed vibrato and contradicted himself several times.
Male distinct and elaborated writing as if acquired in a writer's educational program.

[BeTheChange]

About the NIN Year Zero ARG...TS wrote the following as to the purpose behind the redirect:

This redirect was chosen for several reasons.  It [Year Zero] is an ARG, and yet not an ARG that is simply a game for entertainment; it is an ARG with a very important message, and one that goes along quite well with the TIAI message—in fact, the TIAI redirects were actually one form of ARG.

And like the “2012” film: the specifics of this Year Zero ARG are imaginary, but the concepts are very real. 

I believe this describes 'our' ARG closely.

Man, I hope not. That would suck a whole bunch. Not again... please, not again... Happy New Year! Here's a prozac cuz you're gonna need one to face the world this year...

x7

With L.O.V.E. always.

[curls]

Some brilliant posts here - thanks everyone!

All this talk takes me back to my simple gut feelings when I first became open to the idea of MJ faking his death - you know, before those endless journeys into rabbit holes that not only opened eyes but also significantly muddied the waters!  He is an entertainer first and foremost, always with a message of love and concern for mankind and the earth, but a performer/artist nonetheless, constantly trying to do bigger and better.  A death hoax is SO Michael Jackson! I know that's oversimplifying things somewhat, but you get the gist of those early feelings that I return to now with a sense of them not being too far off the mark!

[Andrea]

Agree with you about TS bec.  The levels were never finished (as TS promised he would) because a few of us got ahead of ourselves.  TS was supposed to debunk (in theory) the various theories of what happened on June 25th, starting with Live-MJ-was-there but his arguments weren't strong enough and we called him on it.  That was the only time I can recall TS having a real sort of tone in his posts.  My belief about that is that we were too close to the truth and why TS wanted to debunk that one right away.  I could be wrong of course but why did he just stop after that?

TS is definitely part of the ARG, he was basically our main player for the first 2 years.  The re-directs kept us guessing and speculating.  He would be serious but could joke around and have fun with us.  What we are seeing from him now with the Signs threw a lot of people off initially back in January but he had been hinting at all the religious aspects since 2009, even mentioning back then that he would go into much more detail about the Ark of the Covenant, which he did this past January.  It all seemed to be leading up to these signs and TS had already established his cred by then.  He tells many irrefutable truths but is slippery.  I wish he was still active on the forum here.