Quick Start
From ILB
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Preparation
Before you begin, it's a good idea to understand what's going on.
- Read the 60 second summary, which also has the summary from the sidebar of Dana's Blog (http://ilovebees.blogspot.com), to understand the basics.
- Read the FAQ to solidify your understanding of what an ARG is and what this ARG is.
- Check the Game Updates to review what's happened recently and what's going on right now. (If you have time, then reading the game Guide is strongly recommended.)
- When another player uses a term you're not sure about, check the Glossary.
- Catch up on the wave stories from thebruce's ILB compilations (http://www.thebruce.ca/ilovebees/), complete wave archive (http://www.argn.com/archives/ilb/index.php), or humptydumpty.html (or transcripts here (http://www.thebruce.ca/ilovebees/theaxonplot.asp)). You can review what happened between the Queen and the Sleeping Princess and the Pious Flea on contactme (http://ilovebees.com/contactme.html) and the link on that page to onceuponatime (http://ilovebees.com/onceuponatime.html) (scroll down to the beginning). The webpages themselves are archived, and you can get to earlier versions by clicking on the dancing bee figure.
You should also understand the concept of what is "in-game" and what is "out-of-game" or OOG. Doing things like calling a character in-game through a phone number clearly given as a contact in the game context is what players are supposed to do; calling people with similar names that you find in the phone book for the area where the character lives is not. In this example, the character's phone number is "in-game"; the phone numbers of private people are "out-of-game." An important aspect of this is that players do not hack email, voicemail, blogs, servers or anything else in the game unless there are unmistakable suggestions from the in-game context that the site is to be "hacked" as part of the game. For example, if a character is hiding things on a server and, in order to protect his or her identity has to give you clues to solve the username/password, then you should. If a log-in page is found by other means, you shouldn't.
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Playing the game
When you're ready to participate, here are some things that can you do to take part in game.
- Enhottenating axons
- Melissa communicates with her crew by posting lists of axons, which are simply pay phone locations along with the time in Pacific Daylight Time. Answering the correct phone and correctly answering questions asked by Melissa will activate the axon. Some of the calls are now "live" calls so that you should be prepared to have a conversation with her and answering her questions as best you can. The list is given to us in a preview on Friday and is then updated on Tuesday. A special axon forum (http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=89) has been created on unfiction. Some cities have created teams that go to the axons, which you can join or not as you prefer. Anyone can go to any axon, so do not feel you should not go just because someone else posts that they are going to be there.
- Melissa has also begun assigning tasks to her crew, both in her live calls and on the axon page on the web site. These can involve things like sending her digital images of specific things, or relaying messages to other crewmembers.
- Finding updates
- Other than the initial "rabbit holes", updates have only come from ilovebees.com (http://www.ilovebees.com/), Dana's Blog (http://ilovebees.blogspot.com,), email from danatwing@gmail.com (mailto:danatwing@gmail.com) and ladybee777@hotmail.com (mailto:ladybee777@hotmail.com), and Dana's Voicemail.
- Updates have historically happened on Tuesdays and Fridays at ~9am PDT (although Dana's e-mails have arrived at various times).
- Updates on ilovebees.com (http://www.ilovebees.com/), usually include some or all of the following: text hidden in images (accessed by saving the image and then opening it in a text file), text visible on the pages which needs to be assembled to be read, the 404 page (http://www.ilovebees.com/404.html), new pages which are located by solving a riddle or puzzle, and pages giving new axon sets. The axon reference pages update in real time as phones are answered and players enhottenate axons. Updates on Dana's Blog (http://ilovebees.blogspot.com,) written by Dana to us tend to confirm what we know or suspect rather than giving new information.
- It's possible that there could be other sources of updates as the game progresses, but before you decide you've found a new update source, please check the Game Updates page to see if it's already well-known, and the Falsities page to make sure it isn't bogus.
- Solving puzzles
- Check out the Puzzles page to see if there are any unsolved or potential puzzles to work on.
- If you want to discuss unsolved or potential puzzles with the community, then visit the Unfiction Haunted Apiary Puzzle Forum (http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=81) *.
- If you want to help activate the Axons, then visit the Unfiction Haunted Apiary Axon Coordination Forum (http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=89) * and look for threads with "coordination" in the title.
- Understanding the story and speculating about its meaning
- Check out the story Summary and the Mysteries page - lots of spoilers, so beware! - to see what we know about the story and the story's unanswered questions (respectively).
- If you want to discuss the story or the game in general, then visit the Unfiction Haunted Apiary General/Updates Forum (http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=78) *.
- If you want to discuss the nature of the Axon Clips, then visit the Unfiction Haunted Apiary Axon Coordination Forum (http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=89) * and look for threads with "discuss" in the title.
- Influencing the game
- Many people who write Dana (danatwing@gmail.com (mailto:danatwing@gmail.com)) or The Sleeping Princess (ladybee777@hotmail.com (mailto:ladybee777@hotmail.com)) have received responses. At present, Melissa seems to have taken over the danatwing@gmail.com address. Feel free to try it for yourself, but remember to write your e-mail as if these characters and the events of the game are real.
- The Sleeping Princess had been asking people to ask her questions via e-mail... she posted the ones she liked best on the ilovebees.com 404 page (http://www.ilovebees.com/foo/), and we got to vote (by following her instructions on the page) for the question we wanted her to answer (she picked only one). She hasn't been doing this since her imprisonment by Melissa and her subsequent escape, but it is always possible that she could start again.
- If you want to discuss your interactions with in-game Characters, then visit the Unfiction Haunted Apiary Interaction Forum (http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=80) *.
- Other activities
- Analyzing the content, HTML source, and binary files on the in-game websites for more clues
- Researching literary references or other out-of-place items in the data that's already been found
- Any other creative approach to figuring out what's going on (within the appropriate ethical/legal boundaries)
- Things not to do
- Don't hack anything, ever (unless clearly part of the game/story)
- Trying to break into characters' e-mail
- Trying to break into characters' voicemail
- Interfering with/trespassing on private property
- Anything else that's unethical or illegal
* To avoid being Trouted on the forums, follow these basic guidelines:
- ALWAYS search to see if there's one or more existing threads about your topic of interest before creating a new thread
- ALWAYS read other people's posts on your topic of interest to make sure you're not being redundant
- Make sure your speculation is consistent with the facts of the game
- Be prepared to use the facts to back up your speculation
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