I Love Bees

I Love Bees

"I Love Bees" (also known as "ilovebees" or "ILB" for short) was an alternate reality game (ARG) that served as both a real-world experience and viral marketing campaign for the release of developer Bungie's 2004 video game "Halo 2". The game was created by 42 Entertainment, who had previously created an ARG for the film "A.I.", and commissioned by Microsoft.

"I Love Bees" was first advertised by a subliminal message in a "Halo 2" trailer; players who investigated the titular website discovered that the pages appeared to be hacked by a mysterious intelligence. As players solved puzzles, audio logs were posted to the ilovebees.com site which gradually revealed more of the fictional back-story, involving a marooned artificial intelligence stranded on Earth and its attempts to put itself back together.

"I Love Bees" was a marketing success; 250,000 people viewed the ilovebees website when it was launched in August of 2004, and more than 500,000 returned to the site every time the pages were updated. More than three million visitors viewed the site over the course of three months, and thousands of people around the world participated in the game. "I Love Bees" won numerous awards for its innovation and helped spawn numerous other alternate reality games for video games.

Overview

Alternate reality games or ARGs are designed to involve fans of video games or other media in a form of viral marketing which CNET described as encompassing "real-life treasure hunting, interactive storytelling, video games and online [communities] ". [cite web|author=Borland, John|date=2005-02-28|url=http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/Blurring+the+line+between+games+and+life/2100-1024_3-5590956.html|title=Blurring the line between games and life|publisher=CNET Networks|accessdate=2008-05-19] "I Love Bees" began when jars of honey were received in the mail by people who had previously participated in alternate reality games. The jars contained letters leading to the I Love Bees website and a countdown. At around the same time, an advertisement for "Halo 2" flashed a link to ilovebees.com, ostensibly a hacked site related to beekeeping.cite web|author=Devidas, Arun|date=2004-10-18|url=http://xbox.ign.com/articles/558/558097p1.html|title=Halo 2: Remember the Bees|publisher=IGN|accessdate=2008-04-12] Both events, not connected publicly for several weeks, caused the curious to visit the website ilovebees.com. The site, which appeared to be dedicated to honey sales and beekeeping, was covered in confusing random characters and sentence fragments. Dana, the ostensible webmaster of the ilovebees site, created a weblog stating that something had gone wrong with her website, and the site itself had been hacked.cite news|author=Zumbrum, Josh|date=2007-07-21|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072502272_pf.html|title=Mystery Movie Teaser Has Gamers Seeking Alternate Reality|work=The Washington Post|accessdate=2008-05-21] Suspecting that this was a mystery that could be unraveled, "Halo" and ARG fans spread the link and began to work on figuring out what was going on.

The gameplay of "I Love Bees" tasked players around the world to work together to solve problems, with little or no direction or guidance. For example, the game presented players with 210 pairs of global positioning system coordinates and time codes, with no indications to what the locations referred to.cite web|author=Terdiman, Daniel|date=2007-05-07|url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/6166954.html?tag=result;title;0|title=GDC 07: I Love Bees developer gets Serious|publisher=Gamespot|accessdate=2008-05-20] Players eventually figured out the coordinates referred to pay phones and the times to when the phones would ring; one player in Florida stayed by a phone while Hurricane Frances was minutes away in order to recite answers to prerecorded questions. Other phone calls were made by live persons known as "operators"; these calls allowed players to interact with the characters of the games in spontaneous and occasionally humorous ways.cite news|author=Fabijanic, Taya|date=2005-02-26|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/02/24/1109180026375.html|title=Down the rabbit hole|work=The Age|accessdate=2008-04-24] Other players treated the corrupted data on ilovebees.com as encrypted files to decipher, or used image files found on the web server to solve puzzles.cite news|author=Shachtman, Noah|date=2004-11-04|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/technology/circuits/04bees.html?_r=2&n=Top/News/Business/Companies/Microsoft%20Corporation&pagewanted=all&position=&oref=slogin&oref=slogin|title=Sci-Fi Fans Are Called Into an Alternate Reality|work=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-05-21] After players completed certain tasks, they were rewarded with new installments to an audio drama which revealed the reasons for the ilovebees.com malfunction.

Over time, the game's mechanisms for contacting players grew more complex. Players were sent messages via email, called on their cell phones, and travelled to arranged meetings between players and characters.cite journal|author=Staff|year=2005|month=April|title=Q & A: "I Love Bees" Elan Lee, CD, 42 Entertainment's Chris Di Cesare|journal=Creativity|issue=|pages=54] The game culminated by inviting players of the game to visit one of four cinemas where they could get a chance to play "Halo 2" before its release and collect a commemorative DVD. [cite web|author=Goldstein, Hilary|date=2004-11-04|url=http://xbox.ign.com/articles/563/563635p1.html|title=Countdown to Halo 2: Entering the Beehive|publisher=IGN|accessdate=2008-05-20]

Plot

The game's plot begins with a military spaceship crashing to Earth in an unknown location, leaving the craft's controlling artificial intelligence or AI damaged. This AI, known as the "Operator" or "Melissa", is not alone; other AI programs share its system. In an effort to survive and contact any surviving allies, Melissa transfers herself to a San Francisco-area web server, which happens to host a bee enthusiast website known as [http://www.ilovebees.com "I Love Bees"] . To the distress of Dana Awbrey, the website's maintainer, Melissa's attempts to send signals began to appear largely as codes, hidden in images or other text, interfering with the operation of the "I Love Bees" site and corrupting much of the content.cite journal|author=Iezzi, Teressa|year=2005|month=April|title=Editor's Note|journal=Creativity|issue=|pages=54]

Dana, attempting to regain control over the corrupted website, accidentally erases data which comprises part of Melissa's memory. Furious, Melissa lashes out at the webmaster, obtaining pictures of her using the webcam on her computer and promising to take revenge. Alarmed, Dana announces she is washing her hands of the situation and is taking a previously planned trip to China earlier than expected.

While one AI program, called Spider, attempts to fix Melissa, random dumps from Melissa's memory began to spill into the website, largely detailing Melissa's history and revealing the presence of a malicious Trojan-horse virus known as the "Pious Flea." The Spider tries to erase the Flea but is outwitted, as Melissa erases the Spider instead of the Flea. The Flea continues to overwrite Melissa's programming with its own mysterious goals.

With the assistance of other fictional characters revealed by audio chapters, the real-life protagonists break into a secure military installation and manage to deactivate a Forerunner device which is implied to begin the firing sequence of the "Halo" installations. However, the price paid for the deactivation is a powerful energy transmission which alerts the Covenant of the location of Earth. Whole again, Melissa sees how she has been manipulated by the Pious Flea, and returns to her time. "I Love Bees" ends with the Covenant invading Earth, corresponding to a major plot point in "Halo 2".

Due to Bungie's commitment to the development of "Halo 2" during "I Love Bees"' run, they were unable to assist 42 Entertainment with story creation, and so the ARG's story is only tangentially related to the main "Halo" storyline. [cite journal|author=Parish, Jeremy|year=2007|month=September|title=Halo 3: Campaign Trail|journal=Electronic Gaming Monthly|issue=219|volume=1|pages=3] The events of "I Love Bees" are therefore considered not to be "Halo" canon.

Development

"I Love Bees"' developer, 42 Entertainment, was founded by Jordan Weisman, the former creative director for Microsoft's Xbox division. 42 Entertainment had previously created the first ARG, "The Beast", which had been used to promote the movie "A.I.". Other members of the "I Love Bees" team included Sean Stewart, a World Fantasy Award-award-winning author who served as "I Love Bees"' writer, and Jim Stewartson, "I Love Bees"' technical lead who produced the first commercial 3D game delivered by the internet. [cite web|author=Staff|date=2005-04-26|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/calendar.php?event_id=607|title=Calendar: IGDA San Francisco Presentation|publisher=Gamasutra|accessdate=2008-08-12] Weisman stated that the goal of "I Love Bees" was to utilize every person who interacted with the game, and to use any electronic resource to do so: "If we could make your toaster print something we would. Anything with an electric current running through it. A single story, a single gaming experience, with no boundaries. A game that is life itself."cite web|author=Rettberg, Scott|date=2006-07-01|url=http://www.uiowa.edu/~iareview/mainpages/new/july06/mcgonigal.html|title=Avant-Gaming: An Interview with Jane McGonigal|publisher=University of Iowa|accessdate=2008-08-13]

42 Entertainment conceived "I Love Bees" as a radio drama, and used the pay phones as a way to excite players. Chris Di Cesare, Microsoft's director of marketing, stated that the radio drama's similarities with "War of the Worlds" was intentional, and that " ["ILB"] remains true to the radio drama tradition of Orson Welles that we were shooting for and also allowed us to tell the story in an unorthodox way."In order to prevent non-players from being scared by the sounds of gunfire from the pay phones, 42 Entertainment established passwords that had to be repeated. [cite journal|author=Staff|year=2005|month=May|url=http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Issues/05Stewart.html|title=Sean Stewart interview excerpts|journal=Locus|issue=] Stewart described writing for the game as more enjoyable than writing printed fiction, both for the money as well as the unique experience of ARGs as opposed to other media:

The audiences that we built for those campaigns are having a different experience. They’re having a collective experience in which they literally bring different pieces, one to the next, swap them back and forth, gossip about them. They have an element of cocreation and a collaborative nature that doesn’t really have an analog that I’ve been able to think of in the arts. [cite web|author=Hanas, Jim|date=2006-01-25|url=http://www.hanasiana.com/archives/001117.html|title=The Story that Doesn't Care|publisher=Hanasiana.com|accessdate=2008-08-13]

Reception

"I Love Bees" is credited with helping drive attention to "Halo 2"; former "Electronic Gaming Monthly" editor Dan Hsu stated in an interview that "I Love Bees" really got existing gamers and other consumers talking about the universe of [Halo] ."cite web|author=Rosmarin, Rachel|date=2007-09-23|url=http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/09/23/nintendo-internet-microsoft-tech-cx_rr_0924halo.html|title=Burnishing Halo|work=Forbes|accessdate=2008-05-21] Billy Pidgeon, a game analyst, noted that "I Love Bees" achieved what it had been designed to do: "This kind of viral guerrilla marketing worked... Everyone started instant messaging about it and checking out the site." [cite journal|author=Brandon, John|year=2005|month=January|title=Online This Month; Hoax sites: everybody plays the fool|journal=Electronic Gaming Monthly|issue=187|pages=46] "I Love Bees" not only received coverage from gaming publications, but attracted mainstream press attention as well.cite news|author=Wegert, Tessa|date-2005-08-18|url=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=I_Love_Bees&action=edit&section=4|title=Advertisers reap real-world benefits from 'alternate reality'|work=The Globe and Mail|accessdate=2008-05-13] At its height, ilovebees received between two to three million unique visitors over the course of three months. 9,000 people also actively participated in the real-world aspects of the game. [cite web|author=McGonigall, Jane |date=2005-05-20|url=http://www.avantgame.com/McGonigal_PLAYFUL_All%20Gameplay%20Is%20Performance_May%202005.pdf|title=All GameplayIs Performance|publisher=AvantGame|accessdate=2008-05-21] The players of "I Love Bees" themselves were quite varied. The target demographic for the promotion was younger males, but one player noted that even middle-aged men and women were engaged in the game. [cite web|author=Clark, Sue|date=2004-10-22|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/buzz/stories/s1226107.htm|title=The Buzz: Alternate Reality|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=2008-05-21]

"I Love Bees" received several awards for its innovation. The design team was one of the recipients of the Innovation Award at the 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. [cite web|author=IGDA|date=2005-03-10|url=http://www.igda.org/awards/pr_2005_0310.htm|title=IGDA Names Recipients of the 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20051211052702/http://www.igda.org/awards/pr_2005_0310.htm|archivedate=2005-12-11] I Love Bees was also announced as the winner of a Webby Award in the Game-Related category, [cite web|author=|url=http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=9#webby_entry_games_related|title=9th Annual Webby Awards Nominees and Winners|year=2005|publisher=International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences|accessdate=2008-05-19] presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

Legacy

Along with 42 Entertainments' previous ARG known as "The Beast", "I Love Bees" is credited with bringing greater attention to the fledgling marketing form; "I Love Bees" not only helped assuage fears by marketers about the costs of ARG failure, but attracted interest from other game developers in using alternate reality games to promote their own products.cite web|author=Hon, Adrian|date=2005-05-09|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050509/hon_pfv.htm|title=The Rise of ARGs|publisher=Gamasutra|accessdate=2008-05-20] Before "I Love Bees", "The Guardian" stated that "ARGs were destined to join Letsbuyit.com and Barcode Battlers in the e-dustbin of nice ideas that never really caught on"; the explosion of broadband internet access and a renewed interest in codes allowed "I Love Bees" to become wildly successful.cite news|author=Carr, Paul|date=2005-04-04|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/apr/04/mondaymediasection.media1|title=The game with no aim|work=The Guardian|accessdate=2008-01-26] Bungie would later use another ARG called "Iris" to promote "Halo 2"'s sequel, "Halo 3". [cite news|author=Sanders, Holly|date=2007-07-12|url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/07122007/business/halo_on_the_hunt_business_holly_m__sanders.htm|title='Halo' on the Hunt|work=New York Post|accessdate=2008-04-01]

"I Love Bees" also attracted attention in the wider discussion of user-based marketing and cooperation. Author Charles Leadbeater argued that "I Love Bees" was an example of "We-Think" collective thinking; Leadbeater noted that after the "puppet masters" began the game, "I Love Bees" "displayed all the characteristics of a mass movement, propelled into existence in a matter of weeks simply by collective enthusiasm guided by a few cyberspace 'avatars'". [cite news|author=Lott, Tim|date=2008-03-30|page=42|title=The Internet is Proving that 200 Heads are Better than One|publisher=Sunday Telegraph] The game proved successful with gamers, as well as attracting nontraditional players who had no experience with "Halo" before joining the game.

See also

* Iris, Bungie's "Halo 3" ARG
* Radio drama - the genre of the audio files released as part of I Love Bees.

References

External links

* [http://halo.bungie.org/misc/ilb_reordered Sound clips by chapter] - a downloadable arrangement of the sound clips in chronological order, based on chapter


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Love and Rocket — Эпизод «Футурамы» «Любовь и Ракета» «Love and Rocket» …   Википедия

  • Love’s Labours Lost in Space — Эпизод «Футурамы» «Love’s Labours Lost in Space» …   Википедия

  • Love and Kisses (film) — Infobox Film name = Love and Kisses image size = 200px caption = Love and Kisses theatrical movie poster director = Ozzie Nelson producer = Ozzie Nelson writer = Ozzie Nelson (Screenplay) narrator = starring = Ricky Nelson Kristin Nelson Jerry… …   Wikipedia

  • Andrew Bees — Surnom Andrew Bees Nom Norman Beckford Naissance 1972 Waterhouse Kingston JA Activité principale Chanteur Genre musical Reggae Labels New Name Muzik, Music Lion, High Time, Roots Operator …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The birds and the bees — (sometimes expanded to the birds, the bees and the butterflies or the birds, the bees, the flowers, and the trees ) is an idiomatic expression which refers to courtship and sex, and is usually used in reference to teaching someone, often a young… …   Wikipedia

  • The Secret Life of Bees — Infobox Book name = The Secret Life of Bees title orig = translator = image caption = The Secret Life of Bees cover author = Sue Monk Kidd illustrator = cover artist = country = United States language = English series = genre = Novel publisher =… …   Wikipedia

  • Persephone's bees — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Persephone’s Bees Información personal Origen Oakland, California …   Wikipedia Español

  • The Bots and the Bees (Футурама) — Эпизод «Футурамы» «Боты и тычинки» «The Bots and the Bees» …   Википедия

  • The Bees (UK band) — Infobox musical artist Name = The Bees Img capt = Img size = Landscape = Background = group or band Alias = A Band of Bees (U.S. name) Origin = Isle of Wight, England Genre = Indie rock, Psychedelic rock Years active = 2001–present Label = Virgin …   Wikipedia

  • The bees — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Bees. The Bees Pays d’origine Île de Wight,   …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”