JOIN US IN THE SECRET WORLD
Walk-through & Process
walk-through
Why did it failed ?
walk-through
Goal
Overview
STEP 1 : DECRYPTING THE BANNERS
The Secret World is a massive multiplayer online role-playing video game set in a modern-day real world under attack from occult forces.
Join US in The Secret World is an Alternative Reality Game base on the eponymous game
Three giants banners appeared at school. Each faction is recruiting new soldiers for the secret war. 3 steps await you. Will you be brave enough?
We had an in-depth analysis of The Secret World to do for school and we wanted it to be as immersive, mysterious and closes to reality as the game.
The goal was to get people involved in the game before we dissected it.
We focused on the very first choice you make in the game.
Choosing your side!!
We tried to design each message with a different level of difficulty.
The Illuminati (easy), the Dragons (medium) and the Templars (hard)
Allowing both casual and hardcore gamer to play.
The Illuminati message was encrypted in morse code, giving it a very technological look.
"Car Onna, Under the bench"
Car Onna is the name of the town's women masonic lodge.
The Dragon message was a poem about chaos, butterfly effect and Bridges encrypted in Caesar cipher.
"Join the swarm, under the rock bridge"
Located near the school is the city Rock Bridge.
The Templars message was two Bible Verses in Latin about order. The important parts were verses numbers.
"45°39'07.6"N & 0°09'00.8"E"
"Under the earth, under his feets"
Following these GPs coordinate led to an unexpected statue of Jesus Christ
To be honest, no one went through this first step.
The four first days, no one tried to decrypt the banners. We asked anonymously people and they told us they thought it was for a surrealistic class we had, or that it was cool but they had no idea what it was for. A few knew the secret world, but had no time to play.
What we did : We created an anonymous Facebook account and published on the student group an announcement.
"Secret Worlds' organisations are coming out of the shadows and recruits. will you be up to the task ?"
The next day (Friday) everyone was trying to decrypt the banners.
The Illuminati banner was completely translated and shared on school network by lunch. People started looking under any bench they could see. We asked why? and they answered, that they did not understand the first part of the message. I suggested to them that maybe googling "Car Onna" might be efficient.
We learned on Monday that one student after googling it realised that "Car Onna" was the name of the town's women masonic lodge but also meant "the river source".
Since there is a river next to the school, he tried to look at the rivers'bench. He eventually got weary and stopped is researchs.
On Monday the Dragons'banner was translated and students were still trying to understand the Templars'banner
No one had understood the messages.
Tuesday was our presentation
We realised too late that the riddles were way too hard, and that we needed more time.
We also realised that the first step was the hardest and the last the easiest.(We did it the wrong way)
We learned that it's never too easy or obvious.
Simplicity and accessibility are the key !
STEP 2 : SUBSCRIBE
Illuminati
Under the bench in front of the town's women masonic lodge was a flask fill by a paper.
On it was a short paragraph about what it truly meant to be an Illuminati
The player had to write his name on it to apply as the Illuminati and be contacted later
Dragons
Under the Bridge was a green butterfly graffiti
" Join US : "
with a name
The player had to tag his name under the bridge to apply as Dragon and be contacted later.
Templars
Under the Christ, under the ground was a wooden crate with a paper.
On it was a short paragraph about what it truly meant to be a Templar.
The player had to write his name on it to apply as Templar and be contacted later
STEP 3 : GET INVITED
Illuminati
The Next morning the player subscribed to the list, a visit card would have appeared at his door. (we had all students' addresses)
"Be ready to meet our leader next Tuesday"
Dragons
The Next morning the player subscribed on the wall, a butterfly would have appeared on his building wall
" Thuesday"
Templars
The Next morning the player subscribed to the list, a letter would have appeared in his mailbox.
"Be ready to meet our leader next Tuesday"
During the presentation disguised as the Faction leaders, we would have given badges to the new recruits.