Introduction to the Characters

In this post, I'll just introduce the characters shown so far as I perceive them:

First off are "the PIE guys," Hector and Baron. They work together, with a little help from the PIE network (the players, also called "slices"), to look at paranormal mysteries and how they fit into their JUMP theory. Though they have dedicated their lives to studying these mysteries; however, they never quite seem to be completely serious on the job, often focusing on their quirkiness and bickering as much as what they study. It makes for good comic relief, though. :)

Hector Macchiato looks like someone who knows his stuff. Inspired by paranormal childhood experiences, he does the finer details in the PIE research. He also reads comic books like Spider-Man, has a sweet pair of sideburns, knows a little bit of sign language, and somehow puts up with his partner Baron.

Baron Rude is the kind of guy who leaps before he looks. As such, he always has something to say, even if he doesn't think about it before he says it. He loves to drink tea, and he focuses on the bigger picture of the PIE projects.

Dongle, whose face hasn't been shown, is the PIE guys' intern. He sometimes films Hector and Baron in their adventures, although not a lot has been shown about his personality.

The other recurring characters in the story are the two unnamed men in blue suits. They watch the PIE guys from a green van parked outside the PIE headquarters, and they have even followed Hec and Baron around.

Introduction to the Game

In this post, I'll give an overall description of the game so far:

As far as I can tell, this ARG was first presented to the public through networking sites like Myspace, as well as a series of video replies on YouTube to videos of supposed paranormal sightings. In these videos, Hector Macchiato and Baron Rude introduce themselves as "the PIE guys"--PIE meaning Paranormal Investigation Experts--and give a very brief and humourous overview of what they think of the paranormal phenomena in the original video. They also mention their JUMP theory, which professes that strange paranormal mysteries occur just before technological breakthroughs, and they encourage viewers to go to their website and check out their research.

The Terms of Service on the PIE website make it clear that it is part of an ARG, revealing that it is sponsored by Sun Microsystems, the makers of the Java programming language and Solaris operating system. It is made apparent that there will be challenges that will promote the use of coding, and the NetBeans development environment and JavaFX Production Suite are included in the website's recruit kit. From my perspective at this point, it seems that the game is an attempt to promote JavaFX, which looks like a Java-esque tool for creating creative and visually-appealing applets and application. The PIE website itself implements JavaFX in it's Media Room section.

In the Media Room (and through their network on sites like Facebook and MySpace), one can find an introduction to the PIE guys and their JUMP theory. They believe that another "Jump" is about to occur, and so they are making almost-daily updates to the site with journal entries, pictures, and videos. Through these updates, the story of the game unfolds, revealing strange cuneiform graffiti on the side of their house, mysterious men in blue jumpsuits stalking them, scary treks through the woods, and a whole lot of other uncanny happenings. It's an interesting story, if you can stand the PIE guys' buffoonery; Baron's in particular.

At the same time, the players are given challenges by a strange entity working through the PIE website. These challenges are puzzles that seem to include coding problems that, when solved, unlock Clues to potentially help put together the mystery of what's behind this strange series of events. As a student studying computer science, I think this looks like it's going to be fun.

In closing, I want to note how strange it is that the ARG appeared to begin with promoting itself to people who are genuinely interested in the paranormal. I mean, it's about computer programming, but it's targetting people who don't seem to be into that kind of thing. But that's just my perspective, of course; maybe I'm mistaken.

Introduction to the Blog

Hi. Let me make a brief introduction: I call myself Oshovah (or Osh), and this blog is dedicated to the alternate reality game by Sun Microsystems called PIE, an acronym for "Paranormal Investigation Experts."

With varying degrees of participation, I've played a handful of ARG's in the past. This includes ilovebees, a promotional game and audio drama for Halo 2; Ares Station, a Telecommunications thesis project by two graduate students; and IRIS, an ARG in anticipation of the release of Halo 3. These varying degrees of participation, however, were never very high, as I didn't find myself contributing much to the progression of the game. There was also always some confusion in my mind about one thing or another; this, combined with my lack of involvement, hampered my experience of the games.

So, in my recent decision to "play" this game, I've also decided to create a blog in which I can focus my thoughts in an attempt to fully appreciate the work that's gone into the creation of this ARG. Hopefully, this blog will also help others to do this as well. I plan on soon posting a re-cap (or a series of re-caps) of what has happened so far in the game, both story-wise and in respect to the challenges. I also plan to post analyses of the different aspects of the game and updates on the game as it progresses.