Cakebread

Rami Zach Greg and JW had already created an in-game social network called Byrdr that Billy (the main character of the game) uses to connect with other characters in the game while he's out fishing. At the same time, they began taking email addresses for a supposedly real-world version of Byrdr. But up until about a week before the launch of the game they didn't actually know what they were going to do with those email addresses! So 5 days before the game's launch, Rami comes to me and says "We have 800 emails and this fake social network called Byrdr. Want to help us make the world's shortest ARG?"

What followed was a 5 day blur of insanity where I outlined and wrote a series of email from James Eagler, the Byrdr CEO, to be sent to everyone who had signed up for the service. At first the emails are simple affirmations of how good Byrdr will be when it eventually launches, but then as Eagler begins "accidentally" leaking internal documents, players get the hint that perhaps everything at Byrdr is not as innocuous as it seems...

The end goal of the ARG was to flesh out Ridiculous Fishing's narrative, a backstory that most people aren't even aware exists. Many of RF's players may never even realize it's there! But there was a wonderful amount of thought put into the game's story, why Billy is here, his past and future, what's at stake for him. Much of that is tucked away in the ARG, hidden in little metaphors and side stories, and I hope that people who have played both the game and the ARG are able to make some of the connections! I won't go into specifically what those connections are, but I can assure you they are there :)

There was also a phone line you could call into, hidden messages and documents to find, email addresses you could write to, some of which you can still find at http://byrdr.com/

Mcflyin8, let's talk here for a minute.

When I saw your question, my first impulse was to deliver the most drawn out, unnecessarily obtuse diatribe about the nature of the word "it" and how "it" is going, the condition and usage of "it" in contemporary culture. I had a whole lot about "it" that I was going to say.

But you didn't come here for that.

You didn't come to be lectured about the etymology and cultural context of the word "it."

You came here to talk. To me.

How insensitive of me would it be to not reciprocate? To deflect your inquiry into how I'm doing, as though I'm too insecure about such topics to be able to open up to you, who I've just met over the internet. What kind of a person would I be then? Not the person I want to be, that much I can tell you.

You've pierced me, Mcflyin8, you've undone me. I see my flaws laid out bare before me, the desire to push away those who want me close, the inability to form a true connection with another human being. It came from the purity of your desire simply to know what's going on in my world today. Can I be a new man tomorrow? Perhaps. But you've given me the strength to start being better today.

THAT, mcflyin8, is how I am doing.

How are you?

Sometimes at night before I go to bed I open and close my eyes over and over, and notice how in pitch blackness I can't even tell the difference between the two worlds. One I was borne into, one I create every time I shut my eyes. Is the blackness a product of me or am I a product of it?

I feel around in the dark for the pillow, it's comforting. To know that I will find it there every time I reach for it. But when the comfort fades away, and when I am forced to tread that fine line between self and universe, to bear the sting of my own nakedness, shoulder brushed against the void, how will I respond? When I find that the pillow is not there to comfort me. Can I yet know myself in this place, on this bed? When will that internal judgement begin? When will I cast myself into the flames?

I open my eyes again. I close them. I open them. I close them.

Put a note and a gun in a bottle. Fate will take care of the rest.

No, that was just to make it look more informal. This is what we discovered about ARGs: people will read into EVERYTHING. Players did some crazy shit looking for clues in the strangest places. Ironically, when the ARG first launched there were almost no puzzles, and it wasn't until we saw people were looking for puzzles that we decided to add them!