Manu
06-26-2001, 03:06 PM
In Search of Salla
Intricate Web Games Market
Spielberg’s New Movie
By Paul Eng
June 26 — Why was Evan Chan killed? For months, thousands of Web surfers have been working to solve a murder mystery that may be a most ingenious piece of motion picture marketing.
It all started with a cryptic credit at the end of the preview trailer for Steven Spielberg’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, which opens in the United States and Japan this weekend. Alert viewers saw a mysterious listing for “Jeanine Salla, Sentient Machine Therapist” and a set of mysterious symbols.
By entering her name into any Internet search engine, viewers started an Alice in Wonderland-type journey that has kept many up late at night solving intricate puzzles — and immersing them in the dark futuristic world that is the setting for A.I.
Who Made It?
The Web game, reportedly designed and operated by Microsoft with Spielberg’s input and blessing, has players deciphering cryptic puzzles and clues to reveal a chain of Web sites. One puzzle, for example, involved printing a Web page and folding it into an origami crane.
Some of the clues have become so complex only coalitions of players could solve the problems. One such group, the Cloudmakers — named after the murdered Chan’s boat — has created a base of nearly 6,000 players, all hooked on the addictive game.
“It’s very intriguing, very addictive,” says Irwin Dolobowsky, a Cloudmaker member since April. “People are running in every direction when we get a new clue or puzzle to solve.”
As each clue brings a new site into the game, it also offers a glimpse into the “back story” of the movie — the developing struggle between humans and robots capable of human emotions. As players moved through the mystery, they could also enroll their e-mail addresses and phone numbers with either the “Anti-Robot Militia” or the “Coalition for Robotic Freedom.”
And that’s where the Web game becomes interesting. The game actually uses that personal information to pull players deeper into the A.I. plot. Some players, for example, have been called on the phone to join local “rallies” — actual meetings where players met and solved more puzzles.
'Rallies,' Cell Phones, Late-Night Puzzles …
Bronwen Liggitt, another Cloudmaker, was one of dozens of players who attended an “anti-robot rally” in New York last month. Players there had to solve puzzles — such as breaking codes that created words out of the letters of members’ surnames.
Puzzle answers were then phoned over to other players at other “rallies” held simultaneously in Chicago and Los Angeles. “We had our cell phones and people sitting on the Net to quickly try and solve the puzzles that were given,” says Liggitt, a 21-year-old sophomore studying Media and History at Hunter College. Some rally participants in New York didn’t leave until 3 a.m., she says.
Cabel Sasser, the 24-year old founder of the Cloudmaker Web site, says that such interactive fun has drawn him and his members into not only the game, but the movie as well. “It’s a far more subtle way to generate interest in a film,” says Sasser.
It’s had an even impact on Liggitt, who was initially hesitant to see the movie. “I’m not a fan of Spielberg,” she says. But since playing the game, she’s changed her mind.
In fact, some Cloudmakers and other online players are being rewarded for their faithfulness to the Web game. A recent clue led players to a Web site where a game character was looking for “3,000 of her closest friends” to “view a 100-year-old movie.” In other words, players like Liggitt have tickets to the Thursday night preview of A.I.
Who says playing games is a waste of time?
www.abcnews.com (http://www.abcnews.com)
------------------
Manu Narayan
Intricate Web Games Market
Spielberg’s New Movie
By Paul Eng
June 26 — Why was Evan Chan killed? For months, thousands of Web surfers have been working to solve a murder mystery that may be a most ingenious piece of motion picture marketing.
It all started with a cryptic credit at the end of the preview trailer for Steven Spielberg’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, which opens in the United States and Japan this weekend. Alert viewers saw a mysterious listing for “Jeanine Salla, Sentient Machine Therapist” and a set of mysterious symbols.
By entering her name into any Internet search engine, viewers started an Alice in Wonderland-type journey that has kept many up late at night solving intricate puzzles — and immersing them in the dark futuristic world that is the setting for A.I.
Who Made It?
The Web game, reportedly designed and operated by Microsoft with Spielberg’s input and blessing, has players deciphering cryptic puzzles and clues to reveal a chain of Web sites. One puzzle, for example, involved printing a Web page and folding it into an origami crane.
Some of the clues have become so complex only coalitions of players could solve the problems. One such group, the Cloudmakers — named after the murdered Chan’s boat — has created a base of nearly 6,000 players, all hooked on the addictive game.
“It’s very intriguing, very addictive,” says Irwin Dolobowsky, a Cloudmaker member since April. “People are running in every direction when we get a new clue or puzzle to solve.”
As each clue brings a new site into the game, it also offers a glimpse into the “back story” of the movie — the developing struggle between humans and robots capable of human emotions. As players moved through the mystery, they could also enroll their e-mail addresses and phone numbers with either the “Anti-Robot Militia” or the “Coalition for Robotic Freedom.”
And that’s where the Web game becomes interesting. The game actually uses that personal information to pull players deeper into the A.I. plot. Some players, for example, have been called on the phone to join local “rallies” — actual meetings where players met and solved more puzzles.
'Rallies,' Cell Phones, Late-Night Puzzles …
Bronwen Liggitt, another Cloudmaker, was one of dozens of players who attended an “anti-robot rally” in New York last month. Players there had to solve puzzles — such as breaking codes that created words out of the letters of members’ surnames.
Puzzle answers were then phoned over to other players at other “rallies” held simultaneously in Chicago and Los Angeles. “We had our cell phones and people sitting on the Net to quickly try and solve the puzzles that were given,” says Liggitt, a 21-year-old sophomore studying Media and History at Hunter College. Some rally participants in New York didn’t leave until 3 a.m., she says.
Cabel Sasser, the 24-year old founder of the Cloudmaker Web site, says that such interactive fun has drawn him and his members into not only the game, but the movie as well. “It’s a far more subtle way to generate interest in a film,” says Sasser.
It’s had an even impact on Liggitt, who was initially hesitant to see the movie. “I’m not a fan of Spielberg,” she says. But since playing the game, she’s changed her mind.
In fact, some Cloudmakers and other online players are being rewarded for their faithfulness to the Web game. A recent clue led players to a Web site where a game character was looking for “3,000 of her closest friends” to “view a 100-year-old movie.” In other words, players like Liggitt have tickets to the Thursday night preview of A.I.
Who says playing games is a waste of time?
www.abcnews.com (http://www.abcnews.com)
------------------
Manu Narayan