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Subject: I thought that the Bungie Community was for more than free advertis...
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MS should still hold up their end of the bargain. Still, I think it might be a case of not being able to send out packages. Possibly something went wrong with Server 3, and they decided it was unfair to not give those packages out, and send out 4 and 5. Don't know, just trying to not make this a -blam!- fest about not getting our decoder rings. Not like I'm getting anything anyways. Still I think if swag was given for the first two, then they should for all of them. At least make a comment, not just sweep it under the rug.

  • 10.23.2007 7:02 AM PDT

RaTiOnAl AnArChY

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Thanks guys. I'd like to kind of refocus the discussion a bit. My standpoint here is this:

It's Bungie's thing (say what you want about who actually screwed it up). IRIS, Halo, Halo 3, AR, and everything to do with everything is based on, derived from, developed by, or meant to benefit Bungie. Bungie should stand up, and say something. Really, they should actually do something, but I am trying to at least get one step farther than we are now.

A few days up on the forum, and this thread has been visited by many very active, and respected (within these circles at least) members of the B.net community, and other communities on the internet. These people have all shared a similar point of view on the issue, and really I find it hard to believe that anyone in their right mind actually thinks our position is flat out wrong. Achronos is the only Bungie affiliated poster in the thread so far.

Is this further proof that the community is not to be listened to? Maybe I haven't given this enough time, but if the forums aren't taken seriously, then who do I write/call/email/whatever? What method should I use to be heard, and illicit a real response? Or, is it a matter of "signatures"? Do I need to actively advertise this thread to those that are interested, rather than sit back and let them find it for themselves? Should this be treated as a petition, or is it already dead in the water?

If it is already dead in the water, then I suppose I have some reasearch to do. I'll be needing some phone numbers, and addresses. Anyone with acurate information along these lines, please PM me with such items, as I may decide to use them soon.

[Edited on 10.23.2007 10:55 AM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 10:53 AM PDT
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You are right to a point Recon. People completed the challenge to be one of the first 100 to unlock a server. However, they did not recieve their promised reward for unlocking the server. This is exactly what it said if you unlocked a server

[quote]For your participation in unlocking this Forerunner database you will be rewarded. More information will be sent to you soon. [/url].

There were 5 servers. However, only the first 2 recieved prizes. Thus, 300 people never recieved their reward for participating in the ARG. Personally, I find this unfair to those who deserve what they should have. It's just something I would not expect from Microsoft.

[Edited on 10.23.2007 12:07 PM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 12:07 PM PDT
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Talk to the Soul | ~B.B. | Know Your Duardo |  | Hero | ISFJ | 77135 | 94371

"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me."

Wasn't the last server opened by one person? I had gotten everything except a confirmation to open the server, and then this dude opened it all by himself. Perhaps Microsoft is wondering how to handle that situation...?

  • 10.23.2007 12:11 PM PDT
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Posted by: Duardo
Wasn't the last server opened by one person? I had gotten everything except a confirmation to open the server, and then this dude opened it all by himself. Perhaps Microsoft is wondering how to handle that situation...?
No. You had to go to stores in the three cities in order to obtain a key. And bounce path was located on a tv screen somewhere. The first person just went on and signed up without saying anything. Eventually, someone had posted the link to the bouncepath where anyone could sign up.

  • 10.23.2007 12:31 PM PDT
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So you just want people to just roll over and get what's given to them? Even on a site dedicated to a community, in which sponsored the ARG in question? You could just send someone the number or the site where they could direct their questions and concerns too. This is where the ARG happened, so isn't it a logical place to have this thread? I don't see a problem with it. People feel wronged, so let them be heard? It's directly related to this community, and it was that advertisement that added the personal gain into the equation. We had no control over what the ARG was, and we wouldn't have even asked for the swag that was sent, but it was sent anyway. So if this is not the right place, where is?

  • 10.23.2007 12:52 PM PDT
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Destinypedia - The Wiki for Bungie's Destiny
Posted by: DEATHPIMP72
Anyone but Foman. He smells like cheese.

Posted by: Recon Number 54
Stop me if I am wrong, but advertisement, ARG's, and even contests that are forms of advertisement are a voluntary form of participatory entertainment that can be either participated in (as many chose to do) or ignored (as I chose to do). The only investment that someone puts into it is their time, energy, attention and effort. It's not a contractual agreement of "if you do ______, you will get ______".

Not quite true, Recon. An advertisement or contest that promises "if you do____, you will get ____" is a binding contract. Indeed, even without the first portion of that statement, it is still binding in situations where it is being used for advertising purposes. I want to extremely quickly point out that that is NOT the case here -- "you will be rewarded" is not specific enough to create any sort of legal argument. Moreover, I think that the vast majority of ARG participants are not bratty enough to actually threaten legal action. I would never, ever, EVER support any kind of lawsuit over these silly little server packages.

Am I completely off-base and misunderstanding the point, or is the central issue here really "we participated in the advertising campaign, completed the challenges, and we didn't get the reward that was promised"?
Unfortunately, yes, you are slightly mistaken. There are a few different camps of people in this thread. Among those who seem to be complaining, there are those who believe that they deserve some kind of recognition for their participation -- the promised "reward." And then there are those like me; that is, those who are frustrated by the feeling of being used for advertising purposes, told that there would be rewards, arrogantly and self-servingly touted as part of some super-duper successful marketing effort, and then ignored once our role in getting Halo 3 as hyped as possible was complete.

I'm sorry, but advertising is a constant source of disappointment, mis-representation, smoke and mirrors. Who really thinks that a certain toothpaste (or body spray) will make then irresistible to the opposite gender? That is the risk that anyone takes when they get deeply involved in advertisement.

Or perhaps I really am confused here. But there is something that you did say that I can clearly respond to.

Nobody thought that Iris was real. But after 200 people received server packages, the expectation of receiving something after being told "you will be rewarded" was quite real.

Again, allow me to reiterate (without speaking for anyone else) my own position: I don't care about the rewards. I care about the silence from Bungie and Microsoft when people ask for what they've been promised. It would be much more honorable for Microsoft to publicly renege on the promised reward than it is to ignore the people who were so dedicated and excited about this ARG, hoping that they just go away and enjoy their $70, $85, or $120 version of Halo 3 in peace.

The writers of this ARG designed it with the full knowledge -- and expectation -- that people would be staying up late at night trying to solve puzzles, wandering around big cities looking for clues, and frantically driving to sometimes-faraway gaming stores to watch videos and relay the clues back to friends. That's fine -- we did it voluntarily, like you said. But then, they told those very same people that they would be rewarded for their efforts, building the hype. The puzzles became more complicated. The game became harder, and so ARGers worked harder -- and I do mean "work" rather than "play." The most dedicated "fans" of this ARG were the ones who helped the most to build the hype for Iris and, in no insignificant way, Halo 3. Call it what you will, but those fans were used as a marketing tool by Microsoft and Bungie and then completely ignored.

After the conclusion of Iris, unlike I Love Bees, there was no recognition of the Bungie Community, no thank-you, and certainly no reward. Holy hell, there wasn't even an acknowledgement that the game was over. Just silence. Which is all we have received since.

Like you, I do not want this to become a petition -- I come here for the discussion, not to get action items taken care of. And I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not complaining about the rewards. As I said in my very first post in this thread: "We are now to the point where that doesn't matter as much anymore. Besides, a cheap T-Shirt, a poster, and a gamerpic is not something that I think a lot of people are losing sleep over. The real problem is the broken promise followed by arrogant silence that we have received in response to our questions."

The community is a cacophony of voices. Your's, mine and millions upon millions of others. It can be heard, it is heard. But acceding to and listening to are not the same thing.

You're sounding like a plaintiff seeking damages. I am sorry, but if that is the case, then that (from my perspective) is not how I define a fan. Membership in the fan community (as I personally view it) is 100% voluntary and only is relevant as long as the individual is a fan. If they see themselves as a customer, a disappointed customer, or an aggrieved party, then they have stepped out of one role and into another. Nothing wrong with that, but they are choosing their role and during the whole process were never empowered to speak for anyone other than themselves. No one speaks for the community (because no one individual can). Once someone gathers together outside of that community (or within it) then they can speak as a group, but they still don't represent the whole.

The problem with this argument, of course, is that it can be used for any complaint. Because nobody speaks for the entire community, it becomes far too easy to say that a complaint -- any complaint -- all complaints -- is/are invalid merely becomes the only come from some (large or small) subset of the community. Even more disappointing is the implication that unless you are happily supporting/defending every single thing that the Bungie LLC does, you are somehow not a "fan." A "disappointed customer" can't be a Bungie "fan"? Some people hated Halo 2 while loving every single other game that Bungie has ever made. Their loudly voiced complaints in the Halo 2 forum of how they were "disappointed customers" did not, in my eyes, make them any less Bungie fans. Especially those who, in those same threads, fondly recalled Halo 1 and Marathon LAN parties and the other games that they enjoyed more.

But by my personal definition, being a "fan" does not require blind adoration and Pied Piper-style following. Indeed, a true fan by my definition is one who can maintain their love for Bungie (or for whatever they are a fan of) while still offering constructive criticism of the way something is being offered or run.

I guess to conclude, I just want to point out my position as clearly as possible one last time, because I never intended to come off as a whiner or spoiled brat who just wants his stuff (I'm not even one of the people who didn't get a package). I've never asked for a reward, either for myself or on behalf of anyone else. All that I, and many other people in this thread (but, granted, not all) have ever asked for is an answer -- a real one. One that says "we're not ignoring you." One that says "Guess what? It's not just a marketing ploy to make us seem like nice guys -- we here at Bungie really DO care about our community. And we tried to make a couple phone calls for you and here's what happened: ............"

  • 10.23.2007 1:25 PM PDT
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Destinypedia - The Wiki for Bungie's Destiny
Posted by: DEATHPIMP72
Anyone but Foman. He smells like cheese.

My pleasure, glad I was able to enlighten rather than ramble. The package with swag came from a generic address at Microsoft Corporation. I still have the box with the return address; I suppose I could post it in CompoundIntelligence in case interested parties want to write to them.

I don't feel particularly great about publicly posting addresses for letter-writing campaigns (like you and I both mentioned before, I come to BNet for news and discussion and I don't want to turn the forums around into some kind of tool to antagonize the mailroom guys at the corporation that runs the website), so I will noodle over posting the address and solicit opinions from anybody who has one as to whether this is an appropriate course of action. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Edited on 10.23.2007 1:42 PM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 1:41 PM PDT
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Posted by: Recon Number 54
Agreed. I wasn't clear if it had a specific division within MS on the label or had been subbed out to an external marketing firm. Oh well, that would have made things easier I guess.

What about the sites where this was taking place, are they still up or did they have any "contact us" information on them?
The sites still remain. However, their is no contact information contained on these sites.

  • 10.23.2007 1:59 PM PDT
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Posted by: Recon Number 54
Posted by: odmichael
Posted by: Recon Number 54
Agreed. I wasn't clear if it had a specific division within MS on the label or had been subbed out to an external marketing firm. Oh well, that would have made things easier I guess.

What about the sites where this was taking place, are they still up or did they have any "contact us" information on them?
The sites still remain. However, their is no contact information contained on these sites.

and I can assume that an attempt to email "webmaster@domain" was attempted?
If I knew the domain, I would have sent a comment. However, I have no contact information what so ever. I think the only thing possible is to write a letter from the box Foman is talking about where the adress is from servers 1 and 2 is. And mail is not quick at all. Especially mailing across the country.

[Edited on 10.23.2007 2:03 PM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 2:03 PM PDT
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Destinypedia - The Wiki for Bungie's Destiny
Posted by: DEATHPIMP72
Anyone but Foman. He smells like cheese.

Posted by: Recon Number 54
What about the sites where this was taking place, are they still up or did they have any "contact us" information on them?
They did, but it was all fake. Especially after the Avery Fane incident.

(Explanation of the Avery Fane incident): Several actors were hired throughout the course of the ARG, and the one poor guy who was a bit naive about the zeal of some members of the Bungie community used his real name and real pages on MySpace and Facebook to post ARG-related information. He and his friends and family were harassed so mercilessly by literally thousands of overeager ARG players (despite the imploring of me and the admins of several other Iris forums/sites) that he was forced to drop out of the ARG and close off access to his web pages.

Needless to say, after that, there were no more real names or addresses used for the duration of the ARG.

  • 10.23.2007 2:03 PM PDT
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Destinypedia - The Wiki for Bungie's Destiny
Posted by: DEATHPIMP72
Anyone but Foman. He smells like cheese.

Posted by: Recon Number 54
A riddle wrapped in an enigma surrounded by a mystery.

Maybe this is the real ARG?

Sorry, that was probably in really poor taste.
lol, I snickered. :-)

[Edited on 10.23.2007 2:11 PM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 2:11 PM PDT
Subject: Iris Packages
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I think I would like to throw a few swings about this too.....

I have been pondering this inaction upon the Halo community for sometime now, and would like to throw a few things out there, that could help us focus and concentrate our current mental reserves instead of exhausting our ourselves on indirect and circuitous solutions. I would prefer to be one of many to take steps and measures to obtain information regarding the long existing delay of Microsoft of getting the Server packages to it winners.If Bungie refuses to disclose any information regarding contact of Microsoft Marketing, then I think I will search around the internet and hopefully find a way for this Marketing Group to be contacted.

Why would it take so long to get the packages to us?

How to contact Microsoft Marketing Group?

Hope this obvious but much needed questions help to isolate the problem. Thanks you.

P.S.Maybe Adjutant Reflex took our packages!*joke*

[Edited on 10.23.2007 3:03 PM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 2:31 PM PDT


Covenant Cival War

Oh yeah BTW...... WHERES'S MY GIGGITY COOKIE!!!

That is true....I guess.

  • 10.23.2007 3:58 PM PDT
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I do remember their being a return address on the package I got from server 1, but I threw the box away a long time ago (opps).
If anyone still has theirs, or remembers the address, please post so others may contact the company and find out what happened to server 3-5's packages.

[Edited on 10.23.2007 4:31 PM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 4:30 PM PDT
Subject: I thought that the Bungie Community was for more than free advertis...

RaTiOnAl AnArChY

Check out the Woodshop!

Posted by: Recon Number 54
Posted by: x Foman123 x
...Needless to say, after that, there were no more real names or addresses used for the duration of the ARG.

A riddle wrapped in an enigma surrounded by a mystery.

Maybe this is the real ARG?

Sorry, that was probably in really poor taste.


No, that was simply funny. I (I think I speak for the others in this thread) am not as picky, or as easily offended as this particular thread may lead you to believe.

This is what I get for going to work. I've gone and missed some actual action.

- As for the petition: You are correct. That would indeed be in poor taste, and I really don't want anyone to get the impression that I am attacking Bungie specifically, or as a whole. The reason much of my phrasing, and arguements are as provocative as they are is simply to gain the attention of interested, and important parties. I am directing most of my frustration toward Bungie for two reasons:

1 - I don't know where else to go, or who else to ask.
2 - The ARG (check Bruce's Wiki for more information) was mainly hosted on B.net. I suppose that is the best way to put it. The initial email had Microsoft all over it. I am not certain that it had the Bungie logo anywhere, but included in the HTML was a link to the Halo 3 site. After a brief visit at HBO, Ajutant Reflex then posted solely in the Bungie.net forums, and (correct me if I am wrong) actually sent Foman a PM within these forums. Almost the entire dialogue created and followed by AR, and subsequently the "identity" that replaced him took place in the B.net forums, much of which was in the Halo 3 forum. Foman created Compound Intelligence very early in the ARG's beginnings, and it is to my knowledge, the largest group anywhere on the internet dedicated to solving the IRIS ARG. Our group (CI) is based within Bungie.net trying to solve an ARG developed around a game developed by Bungie, and we have been using Bungie's forums to try to cipher the clues left on Bungie.net to try to solve this Halo 3 based ARG.

Did I mention Bungie enough there? Again, don't misconstrue this, I am not trying to whine, or be an annoyance to Bungie, or more specifically the Moderators of these forums. I simply do not know where else to go.

My major purpose for this thread is to elicit a real response from some parties that may be concerned with helping us find some closure to this project. As I type sentences such as that last one, I realize I sound like someone who is claiming to deserve something for time I volunteered. With all of it's flaws (I don't intend to go into them here) Iris was still quite exciting, and it offered lots of fun fodder for speculation into the haloverse. I'd do it again even if I knew that the results were to be the same. I will not begin a petition. Those comments were made out of frustration from lack of response. Until now, Achronos has been the only one trying to field our questions. I am already more at ease simply because someone else has taken notice, and seems to show some diplomacy, and perhaps concern.

I do not want anyone to get the idea that I will, or have ever intended to seek any kind of legal action in any way. I am seriously a huge fan of Bungie's, and mainly of Halo in general. I love the updates, the setup, the tongue in cheek humor, the high level of interactivity that crosses over with Bungie's games, I could go on. Bungie is awesome, and after trying my hand as a moderator, I must say that generally, you guys are awesome, and I would not have you think otherwise. The problem is, while Bungie may not have dropped the ball directly, the Bungie name is plastered across everything IRIS, and the only other name I have is Microsoft. If you were in my position you would be bothering Bungie, as well.

I am not here to complain about the fact that my cereal box didn't have it's prize. I'll leave the hair splitting and legal jargon to Foman, he's much better with that. I personally spent many, many hours working on solving the IRIS, and trying to help maintain a focused, and intelligeble forum group in CI (along with the other moderators of course), so I suppose I am a bit biased. That combined with the fact that I did indeed unlock the fourth server, only to be forgotten by the "package handlers", probably makes my frustration a bit more virile than many others. This is probably where some of the "tone" you mention is derived from. I don't intend to give the impression that I hate Bungie, or these fourms, or that I will cause any serious problems about this incident (I would only make a fool of myself if I were to try). I am quick to illustrate my thoughts, and feelings concerned with this, however.

For me, this is not a matter of getting what you deserve. Naturally, I'd like "my" stuff. More importantly, I try to maintain a certain level of integrity in my personal life, and I try to reflect those attitudes within the forums. If you manage to find people who are familiar with me here, they should vouch for my level headedness (I'm pretty sure). When I make a promise, or even allude to the idea that I have anything to do with a project, be it in my proffesional settings, or on a personal basis, I try to make sure that no matter what, those expectations are met. The last thing I want is for someone to be able to say that I didn't do my part. In this particular case, Bungie is the only name we know to look up, and is the party that is most involved, and has/had the most to benefit from the entire project. With no response from them, we feel that their name has been tarnished, and either they are unaware, or unconcerned. With no more than that, and a return address from a small division of Microsoft, where else was I to turn.

Your huge lack of knowledge surprises me. For us, IRIS was a pretty big deal. We even suspected that forum ninjas, or Bungie employees might be spying on our forum group to check on our progress. I am astounded that anyone in the forums, has so little information about this. Don't read into these comments too much; I am not accusing you of anything, I am merely surprised.

The focus here, in my opinion, is the fact that we have all seen Bungie as a wonderful place, that was seriously dedicated to it's fans, and worked very hard to deliver whatever was expected, and desired by the fans. Changes in the forum format, fun updates, podcasts, cool things to participate in like the Gallery caption contests, the webcam game (whur'd it go?), and many other things are evidence of this. From our point of view, after all the fun we've had on B.net, and all the cool events Bungie held, when IRIS got cranked up, we all figured it for one of the biggest, most immersive, coolest ways for fans to participate in a Bungie endevour that reached farther than anything else we've seen from Bungie other than it's games. Naturally, we were pretty disappointed when parts of the ARG went a bit wrong, and further frustrated by the sudden stop in package shipping. After all of that, the utter silence that followed was pretty insulting. Since nothing was ever said, many people PM'd members Bungie, and asked why, what, where etc. The most thorough response that I know of was something to the effect of "Bungie didn't actually run the ARG, and Microsoft's marketing department handled the packages."

I feel that the right thing for Bungie to do would be to find, and send the missing packages, while simultaneosly posting a news release on the site. I understand that there are many coplicated hurdles to overcome that may make that very unlikely. Now, really all I hope to get, and what I do expect, is for someone from Bungie to at least recognize the problem, and sympathize with our frustrations. So far, your tone of careful contradiction, and concerned questioning, is far and away the most positive thing that I have seen or heard on the matter to date. I'd just like to stop hearing people say that we are whiners, and at least acknowledge the fact that we got the raw end of the deal. I'd especially like to hear from a paid Bungie employee.

Thank you very much for you time and concern, Recon. If you have any requests regarding this thread, either post them, or PM me, and if it is benificial for us all, I will edit any of my text that you feel could be misleading (within reason - as if you guys couldn't do it yourselves). I sincerely hope that if your level of knowledge on this matter is indicitive of the Bungie staff, and not just it's moderators, that one or more of you will take enough interest in the ordeal to check out how IRIS played out. Truly, whether you guys know it or not, IRIS participants consider this project part of Bungie history.

In some cases, I have taken the liberty to speak for other posters in this thread. If you disagree with my statements, please post with clarification of your own position.

  • 10.23.2007 4:48 PM PDT

RaTiOnAl AnArChY

Check out the Woodshop!

I'm more than happy to try to clarify. More importantly, I'm happy to learn that it was needed. Had you not questioned this thread, perhaps others would have had the wrong idea.

As for your advice, thank you. I get the feeling that from it, you assume that I have a misplaced concept of the community here. It makes me think that you believe that I have issues with the B.net community. This is not the case, rather, I feel like a large part of the community has been alienated, and I am arguing for the community, not against it. I don't believe for sure that this is your assumtion, but I want to make this clear.

Speaking of the DVD, it is actually part of what prompted me to voice my opinions. The film makes the community seem so dear to Bungie. After my experience with IRIS, and the subsequent problems, followed by silence, and lack of response to our questions, this film was actually salt on the wound. Imagine feeling ousted by Microsoft, and Bungie, and neither feels the need to reassure us, only to say "Oh, well" and spend my money on the game anyway (which I am not sorry I did) only to soon after view a DVD that touts on the community that I feel as though I am a part of. Really, I am sure that their feelings are heartfelt, it's just frustrating to hear all of that enthusiasm, and still get no response.

I must reiterate, I am not so much here to seek a physical reward for my efforts. Rather, I'd like to know that someone at Bungie cares. I'd like to know that somebody at Bungie is pissed off at somebody for screwing this up. As I have said many times in this thread, I think that sending the packages out would be the proper thing to do, but I am not actually asking for that. I want somebody to recognize that it fell apart, and say something; something other than a brush off comment of deflection.

Again, Thank you for your attention, Recon.

Edit: Am I making some kind of mistake by even posting this? I can't help but wonder. I am not getting anywhere. Perhaps, I am impatient, but I can't help but suspect that this simply isn't important to anyone other than those that worked on solving the ARG. I feel like I am standing up for less eloquent people, and for what we believe is right. I now worry that the only thing I am accomplishing is annoying some Bungie employees, and possibly alienating myself from parts of the community that don't know the whole story behind IRIS. Please, tell me I am not setting myself up for problems within the forums. I cannot simply back down without some sort of explanation, or acknowledgement.

More importantly, I think that many people are missing one of my most serious points. Many people that participated in IRIS now think that Bungie has the same attitudes about their consumers as Microsoft. Microsoft does not have the best reputation where this is concerned (at least not in internet forums). A large part of my motivation is to at least inform Bungie that their name has been tarnished. With no real response to my questions, I am giving them the benifit of the doubt by assuming they are simply not aware of this. I would have expected Bungie to be more concerned about this than myself. Also, it sucks to follow this thread when I could be playing Halo 3, but I feel that I owe it to those that cannot speak up, and those that have.

I'm getting in a few games. I'll check up before I go to bed. See ya online.

[Edited on 10.23.2007 7:21 PM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 6:52 PM PDT
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I've never seen a company reward its fan community in the ways that Bungie has throughout the years. When looking at the community as a whole, be it the "Bungie fan community" or "Halo fan community" (among many others), Bungie's devotion to its fans is, in my opinion, unrivaled. Unfortunately, breaking it down into those sub-communities is where the problem lies for this topic.

This may also help clarify some things for you, Recon. The Iris community was basically miniscule, mostly comprised of members of HBO (ABO) and B.net (CI), but with plenty of other HALO lovers joining in the fun as well. Many ABO members are from CI, and vice versa. From the beginning of Iris, anywhere between 500-1000 of us were working hard at deciphering all of the neat clues set up by Bungie. Comics taking place at the cradle of civilization in Africa; a Forerunner "CompoundIntelligence" communicating with us (with an Administrator position, locking and stickying topics on B.net's H3F) in an attempt to lead us to war and, perhaps, to victory; an "Array" alligning itself with something during a countdown. No Iris participants knew that a Server would be unlocked. All we knew was that Bungie was without a doubt involved in this ARG, unlike with ILB.

To the hardcore HALO fan, the reward was the information Bungie was actually going to reveal to us. How often does Bungie ever release story info of their games? There are still unanswered questions regarding the Marathon series, but Bungie was actually going to give us some sort of insight into HALO 3's story? Then Server 1 opens and everyone enters key codes and such to unlock it for the masses. There's a statement proclaiming we'll be rewarded for our part in unlocking the Forerunner database and that more info would be provided. The fact that a package from Microsoft arrived at the doorsteps of those who participated in unlocking this Server increased the "fan" participation in Iris by many thousands of people, even if they were only in it for swag.

As Foman has stated, I'm not posting here to obtain swag for myself or for anyone else, but merely to try and obtain some sort of answers as to what went wrong. All of this talk about contractual agreements and binding words and such have failed to comment on the "More information will be sent to you soon" portion of the statement. Someone arguably "owes" us some form of information regarding what occurred (or should I say, didn't occur). As my earlier post stated, an interview with a Microsoft employee on Eurogamer (assuming it was legit, which apparently it was) stated that Frankie was the creator of Iris and did a lot of its writing. As Geppetto has pointed out, AdjutantReflex's posts were on B.net, and continued after Server 1. Yes, much of Iris was run off of Microsoft's servers on websites designed and coded by AKQA. AKQA was the company that was also involved with much of Iris. The thing is, the Chrysopteron symbol (Forerunner symbol) used by AdjutantReflex, the videos filled with content depicting planets and locations within HALO 3, and especially Server 5's picture known as "Terminal.jpg" all provide tremendous proof of Bungie's involvement throughout the entire Iris ARG.

The problem here doesn't come down to how much Bungie cares about its fan community as a whole (or even the sub-communities). It comes down to the neglect from both Bungie and Microsoft on the issue of a community created from Bungie's decision to make some sort of ARG since they had "more time" to do something of the sort, unlike with ILB, and the fact that the community created in full support of Bungie, its games, and its ARG has been relatively ignored and shunned. I've not seen one member of Bungie comment on anything regarding Iris and the packages until this topic. Unfortunately, Achronos may not have been very involved with Iris (if even involved at all?). Microsoft, while being the place the packages were shipped from, as well as allowing their servers to host much of the ARG's content, does not remove the responsibility from Bungie to its fans. This wasn't some 3rd party, entirely not-canon ARG created with Bungie's permission but without Bungie's input.

Recon, I know you don't work for Bungie, but you've made more of an attempt to understand our positions (individual and group) and the events that led to the creation of this topic than anyone from Bungie who allegedly was deeply involved with Iris has. Achronos has tried to help, but as pointed out by Foman, we weren't even given a straight "yes" or "no" as to whether Bungie even tried to find out what went on with Microsoft and the packages. I know Bungie is very busy doing PR, working on downloadable content, and most likely working on their next project (Peter Jackson project or other), but as has been pointed out plenty in this topic, would a 10 minute explanation from someone who's actually in-the-know derail whatever Bungie's currently working on?

I think I can speak for everyone when I say that when all's said and done, we're still going to love Bungie whether we get the answers to the "Iris issue" or not. Doom and Marathon were the first FPS games I ever witnessed, and Marathon was the only one I was allowed to play (too young for Doom, deemed the adults, but Marathon had substance said they!). I've "known" Bungie since I was very, very young. This thread, and my posts may seem anti-Bungie or greedy, but that's defnitely not what I'm attempting to convey. I don't believe anyone in this topic is trying to convey a spoiled, bratty attitude. We all would just like some answers. Regardless, thank you Recon and Achronos for trying to help. Like I said, this is the first time I've even seen anyone from Bungie or involved somewhat directly with Bungie trying to give us answers or help. It means a lot.

[Edited on 10.23.2007 9:25 PM PDT]

  • 10.23.2007 9:23 PM PDT