In Over my Head

I have so many words swirling around in my head. And for what? To define ARG.

Honestly, I didn't know they existed until this class. I had never noticed that there were websites that were part of puzzles, part of ARGs that tons of people are adamant to solve. I had never played an interactive fiction before, but now I have the experience. What is there to do with that experience? It seems like the goal is to define an ARG and whether or not it's truly a false world, or not.

While reading TINAG, towards the beginning of the book, I read my favorite paragraph. It was talking about how the goal of an ARG is to take the game and immerse it in the player's world, not the other way around. This struck me. Can this truly be achieved? I have experienced immersion from films, books, video games, but I never thought they were actually a part of my world. And who's to judge what a true ARG is anyway? I think it's evident by the varying opinions of our class that we each have a different experience with a text we're reading or playing. Just because one person's reality collides with that of a game, doesn't mean the person next to them will have the same experience.

At the moment, I feel in over my head. Like, this is almost all beyond comprehension. I don't think I'm alone in this. Scholars can't even legitimately and fully define what a game is. There are so many theories. Isn't that what the answer for any ARG question is going to be? A theory. Isn't there possibly another answer? Another outcome. How can we be confident that the answer we come up with is undoubtedly right?

I may be way off base here; this is not even what I intended to say. I just became "immersed" in my thoughts and the interface I'm using to put it all down.

GROUP PROJECT: I was not here on the correct days for meeting with the group, apparently. I have no idea what's going on. Honestly, I'm not great puzzle-solver so figuring out how to contact the people in my group (Flotsam and Jetsam) is tricky with the aliases on this site. I could look up the emails in the UMW student directory, but that's just creepy to me. So, if anyone is feeling sympathetic at all (I know, I know. I should figure this out on my own), I'd greatly appreciate it.