So, I've spent the last week absorbed with something totally new in my gaming experiance.
A fan of brain games, I found a reference somewhere to the term ARG. Turns out an ARG is an "Alternate Reality Game" and is a sort of brain puzzle-information-scavenger-hunt-gone-insane, and as such is *just* up my alley. So I went looking for one, because most the ones mentioned were completed.
Although I've been a "gamer" since my mom got a Comodore 64 when I was in grade school, and my after school activities in 5th grade or so was D&D with one of my teachers, I've never been a fan of First Person Shooter-type games. They're just not my genre, although I've enjoyed watching my kids play them over the years. I once got a kink in my neck craned around watching my middle son play "Dead Space" for hours, and died in dungeons in World of Warcraft more then once distracted by other games.
So when I saw and ARG based in the game "Black Mesa" - a Half-Life2 reboot by the masterful Black Mesa Modification Team - I clicked over. I'd seen my son play Portal and Portal 2, so I knew much of Valve's works, and seen some of Half-Life 2 on the xbox (Orange Box) so I had an idea, but had no back-story or knowledge of the game mechanics.
Here I am, a week later, and I've become so enthralled with this ARG that for the first time in my life I have installed a FPS game on my laptop, and when insomnia kicked in the other night, decided to play until sleep gave in, which occurred around 9am the next morning. The two previous nights had been similar, but reading all the 1400+ posts on the "The Pizza Code Mystery" forums, located at http://forums.blackmesasource.com/showthread.php?t=13735 as well as the Wiki the gamers have created located at http://thepizzaisalie.wikia.com
So here I am, totally absorbed in the world of Gordon Freeman, and the Pizzas and codes of the Black Mesa Research Facility. I'll be transcribing my notes on the ARG over the next few days, and trying to organize my information. Game on!
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