This is the moment Hungarian weightlifter Janos Baranyai’s first Olympics ended in agony when he dislocated his right elbow in the ugliest moment yet of the Olympic weightlifting competition.

Video: Elbow Ouchee

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Well my hopes about having the new ARG be a big one came true. Later in the day, on Monday, the game started rolling. Unfortunately, in today’s legal-wrangled world, the 4th wall had to be broken slightly by a “Terms and Conditions” link on the bottom of a website which outlined all the legal issues, and in fact mentioned who the sponsor was. I actually found this information out myself, because I was hoping for something big, but here’s a better quote from ARGNet, which not only mentions the primary sponsor but in fact confirms the identity of the lead designer.. who prior to the announcement was also suspected but not yet confirmed:

The Lost Ring is a global alternate reality adventure created in partnership between McDonald’s, AKQA and Jane McGonigal. Designed in collaboration with the IOC, The Lost Ring invites players from across the globe to join forces online and in the real world, as they investigate forgotten mysteries and urban legends of the ancient games. The Lost Ring recognizes McDonald’s historic sponsorship of the Olympic Games, and brings the spirit of the Games to people around the world.

This really is big news. You’ve got a major sponsor, a fabulous designer and the backing of the IOC. In fact, one of the trails yesterday led us to information that was posted *on the Olympic website*.

One of the themes of the ARG so far has been the international collaboration. The primary characters we’ve found so far are each from different countries and they are communicating with us in their native languages. This means alot of cross translations and tracking down actual speakers of the language rather than relying on software based translations.

Jane goes on to say:

… that she is “so thrilled to be collaborating with these organizations to create what we hope will be the most global ARG, ever. This is really a dream project for me – we are bringing together the two kinds of games, ARGs and the Olympics, that have the power to engage and unite people all over the world.” So far, the game is succeeding admirably, with characters interacting with players in English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, and Esperanto.

I dragged my wife into the game last night and had her watch the opening videos and the storyline so far. I think maybe she’ll be along for the whole ride with me this time.

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Here’s hoping that the new ARG that I am following is going to pan out to be a really good one.

I’ve been disappointed in the last several I have joined/lurked on. For whatever reason, they’ve fallen apart or didn’t meet my expectations of puzzles/interaction. This is often the case when they are grassroots ones run by inexperienced puppet masters, or when they are limited in their involvement tool and are more marketing based.

There have been several bits of information regarding this one that indicate that it may have some serious ARG designers behind it. If that’s the case, then it’s less likely to fizzle and *hopefully* will have the involvement level I’m looking for. Not going to post them just yet in case they are incorrect, but it’s a start.

One of the most inspiring tidbits though is that the theme of the ARG is the Olympics. If it’s truly a professionally done product tying into such a well known product, it’s going to need the proper level of support. It appears to be tied to the 1920 Olympics. Speculation abounds regarding a stolen flag, a 6th colored ring, protests, the works….

If all goes well, today should be the day that more information is revealed. People received boxes last week to draw us into the rabbit hole, and the initial date appears to be 3/3. So I’m anxiously monitoring the website and the unfiction forum for more information. Another indicator that this is being done large scale is the individuals who received the packages have various ties to the ARG community, but more importantly there are also ties to major media outlets and things. Your common grassroots projects don’t send out information like that which gets you covered on big sites likes CNet.

If you think that you might want to follow this ARG, whether it’s your first time or you know about ilovebees and others, here’s some informative links:

Article on CNet with some beginning coverage

Initial Wiki by thebruce (contains rabbit hole coverage and information regarding the packages received)

[Trailhead] Find the Lost Ring (unfiction forum thread covering the initial rabbithole packages, who’s received them, what they include, and rampant specualation)

Find the Lost Ring (the website revealed in the rabbit hold packages.. as of this post, nothing is on it but an error message.. hopefully more will be revealed today)

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