Gameology: Commentary and Resources for the Game Studies Community

Some big news out of the ARG world: the longest running ARG storyline has finally come to an end, some 3 years after the citizens of Perplex City first lost their cube on earth and sought out our help in finding it. The company behind the game promises a "season 2" to start soon, so it's time for the players to rest a bit and keep their eyes open for whatever comes next. When Perplex City (a.k.a. Project Syzygy) first launched, I started to follow along but drifted off some time even before the "deliverable" was revealed. I'm a bit more serious about ARGing now, so maybe I'll catch the next one when it comes around.

Perplex City is, of course, a great success story in the ongoing question of business models for ARGs (the [real] company, Firebox, sells puzzle cards and other products related to the game), so it's good to see them finally reach this milestone and get some good press coverage out of it.

There's a lot that's happened in ARGs since Perplex City first started, and it's interesting to think back on how mysterious and strange the Project Syzygy site seemed to me when I first saw it. Now, having a couple of campaigns under my belt, I can say that my impression of a mysterious site with cryptic images and pleas for help would be rather different.