Print Books
| Ong’s Hat: The Beginning [Paperback]Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells (also availabe as an eBook)
“…a bizarre Internet phenomenon, the main focus of his book: an “immersive” online experience—part mystery, part game, part who knows what—known as both the Incunabula Papers and Ong’s Hat. Those were the abbreviated titles of documents that someone—probably a group of four provocateurs—posted on The Well, a pioneering Internet social site in the late 1980s. The Incunabula Papers/Ong’s Hat was, or is, a “many-threaded, open-ended interactive narrative” that ”weds an alternate history of chaos science and consciousness studies to conspiracy theories, parallel dimensions, and claims that computer-mediated environments can serve as magical tools.
Fortunately: After sitting largely dormant on the social Web site for a decade, the documents provoked a widespread “immersive legend-trip” in the late 1990s. Via Web forums, participants investigated the documents—manifestos—which spun up descriptions of brilliant but suppressed discoveries relating to paths that certain scientists had forged into alternate realities. Soon, those haunted dimensions existed in the minds and fantasies of Ong’s Hat’s many participants. That was evident as they responded to the original postings by uploading their own—all manner of reflections and artifacts: personal anecdotes, audio recordings, and videos—to augment what became “a really immersive world, and it was vast.”
The Incunabula documents actually existed. Part esoteric knowledge relating to cutting-edge theories resonant with (pseudo) chaos and string theory, part rococo hooey, among their many tantalizing references were several to legends and rumors pertaining to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Some participants actually embarked on pilgrimages there, to the Pine Barrens’ American Indian gateways to other worlds, to investigate such claims as that residents of a “Moorish Science Ashram” were hard at the work of necromancy and sorcery in Ong’s Hat, a New Jersey “ghost town.”
Most, however, lived out its strange dimensions—and expanded them—via the Internet. The Incunabula Papers was, “one of the earliest Internet-based legends, a mythmaking system, an ARG [alternate reality game], and/or an elaborate hoax.” Whatever its claim on truth, it induced extraordinary responses from, and experiences for, participants—many were “transported,” somewhere, if only on a thrilling fantasy ride.
The trip peaked in 2001; then, one of its known originators, Joseph Matheny, an American artist who creates works using alternate-reality gaming and “transmedia” storytelling methods, called a halt.” – The Chronicle of Higher Education |
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| Legend-Tripping Online: Supernatural Folklore and the Search for Ong’s Hat [Hardcover] by Michael KinsellaAmazon , Barnes and Noble, Powells (also available as an eBook at those locations)]
On the Internet, seekers investigate anonymous manifestos that focus on the findings of brilliant scientists said to have discovered pathways into alternate realities. Gathering on web forums, researchers not only share their observations, but also report having anomalous experiences, which they believe come from their online involvement with these veiled documents. Seeming logic combines with wild twists of lost Moorish science and pseudo-string theory. Enthusiasts insist any obstacle to revelation is a sure sign of great and wide-reaching efforts by consensus powers wishing to suppress all the liberating truths in the Incunabula Papers (included here in complete form). In Legend-Tripping Online, Michael Kinsella explores these and other extraordinary pursuits. This is the first book dedicated to legend-tripping, ritual quests in which people strive to explore and find manifest the very events described by supernatural legends. Through collective performances, legend-trippers harness the interpretive frameworks these stories provide and often claim incredible, out-of-this-world experiences that in turn perpetuate supernatural legends. Legends and legend-tripping are assuming tremendous prominence in a world confronting new speeds of diversification, connection, and increasing cognitive load. As guardians of tradition as well as agents of change, legends and the ordeals they inspire contextualize ancient and emergent ideas, behaviors, and technologies that challenge familiar realities. This book analyzes supernatural legends and the ways in which the sharing spirit of the internet collectivizes, codifies, and makes folklore of fantastic speculation. |
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| This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming [Paperback] (free sample chapter here [PDF]) by Dave SzulborskiAmazon,Barnes and Noble, Powells (also availabe as an eBook at those locations)Imagine a world of mystery and excitement, adventure and fantasy, waiting for you to explore. A world that reacts to your every move, with characters and companies that talk to you, send you messages, and even give you items to help you in your quest. A world so immersive that you can no longer tell where the reality ends and the fiction begins. Welcome to the world of Alternate Reality Gaming. This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming by Dave Szulborski is the perfect introduction to the unique and exciting world of Alternate Reality Games. Written by the creator of five successful and critically acclaimed ARGs, This Is Not A Game features detailed sections on the theory and history of Alternate Reality Gaming, as well as a “How To Guide” for aspiring game creators. The book also includes Dave’s personal reflections on creating some of the most popular ARGs ever developed, and essays on gaming and cooperative writing by Joseph Matheny.
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| War Against the Matrix(Greek) Metaekdotiki (out of Print) Look for a used copy Οι Εκδόσεις Αρχέτυπο μόλις εξέδωσαν ένα εκρηκτικό συλλογικό έργο με το γενικό τίτλο Ο πόλεμος ενάντια στο MATRIX. Ο κόσμος στον οποίο ζούμε είναι φανταστικός, είμαστε σε μια φυλακή και οι δεσμοφύλακές μας κυκλοφορούν ανάμεσά μας μεταμφιεσμένοι. Είμαστε σκλάβοι, χωρίς να το ξέρουμε. Ζούμε μέσα σε ένα πρόγραμμα ενός μεγάλου και έξυπνα στημένου υπολογιστή κι εμείς οι ίδιοι είμαστε ομαδοποιημένες ρεπλίκες των παραμέτρων του προγράμματος. Ποιοι είναι αυτοί που μας παρακολουθούν και πειραματίζονται μαζί μας; Σε ποιον ανήκουμε; Υπάρχει στ’ αλήθεια το Εγώ ή υπάρχει μόνο το Εμείς; Τι είναι λοιπόν το ΜΑΤRΙΧ; Είναι ό,τι μας έχει επιβληθεί να βλέπουμε, να αισθανόμαστε και να σκεφτόμαστε, έτσι ώστε το ΜΑΤRΙΧ να είναι παντού και ΠΟΥΘΕΝΑ! Υπάρχουν κεκρόπορτες στο ΜΑΤRΙΧ; Υπάρχει κλειδί που να τις ξεκλειδώνει; Download excerpts on our reviews page |
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