Serial Experiments ARG Announcement! (SEARG) (Patreon)

In the wild years of the late 90s, a mysterious technology corporation appeared and caught the attention of everyone, including the U.S. Government. After a few short years of unsettling experiments, the organization went underground again, never to be heard from again, or so we thought.

Decades later, a series of short-form micro videos appeared on various social media platforms, showing the adventures of several shrunken people attempting to survive being reduced to various tiny sizes. The videos quickly went viral, but the person...or group, kept themselves behind an alias - @BadSciVigi. Just as the short-style videos exploded to mass market appeal like a reality TV show, the uploads stopped, and the accounts disappeared. The viewership was enraged...they wanted more.

Follow along and solve the mystery! Why did the mysterious company disappear, and what was the purpose of their experiments? Who was uploading these videos, how are they connected, and what happened to the shrunken people featured in the this make-shift social media reality show?

And most importantly...are you going to find all of the clues before it all disappears? It's time to dive in...welcome to the Serial Experiments ARG! (Augmented Reality Game!)

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Basics

Welcome to the beginning of the most expansive project I've done so far. There are a lot of pieces to this, so grab a snack.

What is an ARG?

For the uninitiated, an ARG or Augmented Reality Game, is an interactive game (not a video game, but also sometimes includes video games) where participants gather clues scattered throughout various media platforms and content types to piece together clues about the mystery or story behind the content they find. Serial Experiments has always had kind of a through-line that didn't go into much detail until Serial Experiments 3. This ARG will give you an opportunity to really dive deep into the world of the story, while also getting that size-changing fun you've come to expect from me. Not all of the content is unaware, but much of the 'regular' content will be.

'Regular Content' will be posted weekly, most of it being animated clips that I'll discuss more about in the next section. Even though the scope of this project is the biggest ever, it's built in such a way to reduce stress for me.

Content Structure

Every Monday, I'll be posting a short clip of a shrunken person in a potentially dangerous situation...up to 30 seconds long, of the usual content from me, lots of feet, vore, and some random other situations. There will be two versions... a vertical YouTube Short (as long as YouTube doesn't ping me anymore...) and a traditional 1080p version. Both videos will be mostly the same content, sometimes with some changes, but with the wider aspect ratio of the short, there may be additional Easter eggs, clues, or things you should pay attention to, to help you find additional content, or put the story together. The 1080p videos will be posted for $10 and $25 patrons, the YT Short will be posted for $3, and $5 patrons, and some of them will also be posted publicly, and on DeviantArt.

We will start there, and once the ball is rolling, there will be an opportunity to find additional content outside of Patreon. However, these opportunities may come sooner if you pay attention to content that would otherwise be hidden by the more narrow aspect ratio of a YouTube Short. I'm just saying, I rendered two different versions of all of these animations for a reason...!

At the end of the ARG, I will take all of this content that I've been working on and dump it all here, for everyone to enjoy. I don't know how long this will last, I've got content planned through at least the end of July.

The 'Game' Aspect

This ARG will not be as difficult as other ARGs, I just thought it would be a more interesting way to deliver content. There will be names and numbers and a mystery behind a curtain, but you won't need to dig through actual website code or crank up the contrast or gamma on an image to find anything. Maybe in the next one, if this goes well.

Some of you have commented or privately asked me about a Discord server to communicate and theory craft together, but I don't have time to try to moderate it. The structure of the project allows me to give you all weekly content without having to stress about sitting at a computer 24/7, and getting a Discord server for this (or at all) would require me to do that.  Especially since not everyone will get access to the same content at the same time. HOWEVER.

After the project is in full swing and going well, I am considering asking a few trusted friends to admin a Discord server, slowly roll out access, and let them choose moderators. No guarantees though!

$25 Patrons will be getting access to all content across the ARG as it becomes available in a post here, without the need to go through the ARG aspect. I will link to it in a post so that anyone who *does* want to play through the ARG content and find the content on their own can do so.

Please keep in mind that this is a game. All the characters, social media accounts, pages, or likenesses to real people or businesses are completely fictitious.

Time to get started!

By the time most of you read this, the first clips will be available. All In-Game content will be tagged SEARG and have it in the post title. Don't spoil anything for anyone, or share the content outside of Patreon. Again, maybe a Discord server in the future. Later this week I will do an SEARG FAQ post. For now, I hope you enjoy!

-U.E.