--- In cloudmakers@y..., "Jay" <NovaStarJ@a...> wrote:
<snip>
> When the PM's originally started this game, they wanted to make the
> storyline relate in some way to the movie. We proved far more adept
> at solving their puzzles then they thought, so they constructed
more
> and more elaborate puzzles, and the game took on a life of its own.
I
> have a feeling that we have long since solved through all of the
> puzzles the PMs originally made, and thus they were required to
make
> new ones that don't tie into the movie, in order that we stay
> interested.

Although this is possible it doesn't seem likely to me. Big studios
plan their marketing budgets and execute them. I doubt the studios
have the level of flexibility required to turn around and say, hey
this thing is turning out to be popular/interesting/whatever, let's
start spending more money on it for no clearly definable purpose. I
suspect that all along this game was planned for at its current
levels of activity if not higher levels. This too would be peculiar
but less peculiar than a flexible hollywood.

> Now the game only serves to make us familiar with the world the
movie
> takes place in. The words "This is not a game" I think seperate the
> game from the movie, saying the movie is no longer involved in the
> game.

I see this differently. I think it's partially a reference to
Magritte's painting (and by extension, the whole words/reality
thing), and in part says that the "game" we are playing now is the
reality of the future: people's existence is known through their
presence on the net, in emails, voicemails, etc: how can we know they
are real? Once everything experience is a mediated one (see McLuhan,
see Influence on Kubrick) how can we tell what is real and what is
not? Well, we'll tell by sleuthing, or try.

(totally ot/wild: cloudmakers could be a good model for investigation
of paranormal/ufo phenomena, which often have surprisingly strong
symbolic components and exhibit peculiar coincidences and
synchronicities. (see Jung, Vallee) )

Whatever the game is or means it's certainly not your usual internet
promotion, in fact not any usual kind of promotion. Some very
creative people are behind this, and the quality of execution
(writing, design, etc.) is excellent (I agree with another poster
that it could be webheads but I'm also betting game designer heads).

And there is an entity - be it singular or plural - making live
decisions on how to respond to us --- or at least making decisions on
how to pace the story by giving us [fewer hints] / [more complicated
puzzles] as necessary.

<snip>

> At this point I've pretty much forgotten what the main point of my
> post was.

"take me to your dealer"