While Roses are lovely this time of year, Emeralds are awfully sweet as well. Congrats USC for beating Boston College!

This goes on for several months, and although at times you might be slightly jealous, you never really feel left out because you’re becoming quite the player on the team. Your teammates notice it and your coaches have quietly given you kudos on the work that you’ve done. The fact that you haven’t won an individual prize doesn’t mean much since you never actively tried to win one.

Finally, the season comes to a close and the coaches have announced that they are going to be having a final award ceremony, where more prizes will be given out, including some for the most valuable players. You become pretty excited at this because you know, your teammates know, and your coaches know that you are one of the best players on the team. Although you hadn’t expected any sort of reward at the beginning of the season, you can’t help to feel like now it’s your turn and that you’ll finally get something tangible for your efforts.

The night of the award ceremony comes. The coaches announce a lot of names for rewards. You notice a lot of the people already won one or more of the weekly rewards, but that’s okay because they still played the entire season and deserved a final reward for sticking it out. Then the time comes for the MVP award. You’re so excited because you’ve seen some of the kickass gifts the others have received tonight and you figure you have to be getting something like that. You and three other people are called up to the stage. Your names are announced. The coaches thank you for a job well done. Then they give you a pat on the back and send you back down to your seats empty handed. Thanks for playing and goodnight everyone.

You leave feeling extremely upset and insulted.

The above scenario is pretty much how it played out during Sony’s Institute for Human Continuity ARG for the movie 2012. After handing out prizes to people who were quick enough to become Ambassadors at Comic-Con, who were lucky enough to live in (or near) specific cities for the dead drops, who were randomly selected members of the press or at-home Ambassadors, the game seemed poised to be ready to reward those players who had actively played the game up until the end and made some significant contribution to it.

So I’m going to send copies to just a few of you that I’ve grown to trust. Keep an eye on your mailbox for the next few days.

That is what the character called Corruption Theory said on November 6, 2009. When I first read that, I concentrated on the words “you that I’ve grown to trust.” I know now that what I should have been focusing on was “just a few of you,” because it seems that only a relatively small number of people got the final mailing from Corruption Theory. I wasn’t one of them, despite solving 7 out of the 11 Project Naaczaal puzzles, being recognized by another player as being one of the main puzzle solvers and being one of 4 names Soren Ulfert had written down before he died.

I need to point out right now this is not about the swag. I really don’t care that I didn’t get a specific piece of swag, like some pictures or a poster or camera or e-reader. What I do care about is being left out of the final set of rewards when a: it was being presented as a reward for contributing to the game and b: numerous people who got the final package had already gotten prizes during the game. And I also care that I was not the only one to be ignored in this manner. At least two other people who were fairly active (by my estimations in the game) also didn’t receive any sort of final package.

This is unacceptable. It’s one thing to send out rewards to players for randomly being the first to show up at a location or respond to a tweet. There at least the method of ‘winning’ is stated and players can accept that as just being the nature of the game. It’s another thing entirely however to suggest that ‘prizes’ will be given out based on merit and then distribute them seemingly at random. There was zero transparency as to how these final packages were given out. In fact, from my perspective, it would appear that if you had already been one of the Ambassadors and received a prize that you would then also get the final package as well. Whether or not this is in fact true I can’t tell, but more than one person who posted in the Unfiction thread stated that they had been an Ambassador and had received something previously in the mail.

I do know that not all the Ambassadors signed up on the IHC website received packages, because I had signed up after Comic-Con when the link to apply to become an Ambassador was posted. I never received the poster that was sent out to some Ambassadors by Barbara Lewis-Penn. At the time I wasn’t upset at the slight as I hadn’t been a very active Ambassador and figured there was probably some minimum sort of activity threshold that I did not pass, but now I’m curious if mailing was conducted in the same way as the final package mailing was, where some people who were deserving got passed over. There certainly is precedent with that considering the controversy over who should have been included in the final 12 11 candidates for the Leader of the Post-2012 World.

Most of this blame I lay on Sony. I’m sure they had some huge list of rules that were drawn up to ensure ‘fairness’ in who was rewarded throughout the game. But seriously, those rules didn’t have some sort of clause that stated if someone ‘won’ a prize that they would be excluded, or at least put at the bottom of the list, from any future prizes? I’m not trying to take anything away from those who were rewarded more than once, or saying that they didn’t deserve the final prize. I’m just saying spread the love around a little.

But I’m guessing that spreading the love around wasn’t in Sony’s game plan. After all, not only did they give out prizes to a small subset of those who actually played their game, an even smaller subset of those final package recipients got an extra prize – a Sony Pocket Reader. I really can’t figure out the reasoning behind this, unless Sony just had a bunch of Readers laying around the office that they had no idea what to do with. Because I’m sure it didn’t even cross their minds to produce more posters and printouts to send out to more deserving players instead of expensing $200 readers to a few individuals.

While Sony and whatever marketing executive presumably drew up the list of players who would get prizes get most of my contempt, the Puppetmasters who ran the game also deserve some of the blame. Unless they were absolutely clueless as to how Sony would reward players with the final package, the PMs could have communicated better the fact that packages would not necessarily go out to the ‘most deserving’. Even a line as simple as “I’m randomly mailing out packages to people through the IHC” would have been sufficient since it a: alerted players to the random nature of the package recipients and b: that only those people who signed up through the IHC would be eligible. Certainly not perfect since I’m sure there were many deserving people who played the game yet never signed up via at the IHC, but still better than nothing.

Alternatively, the PMs could have learned from the example of Who Is Benjamin Stove or the Levi’s Go Forth game where the first X players to complete a puzzle could submit their information for a prize. Not only would this have allowed a different set of players to excel (puzzle type vs location based) but it also would have allowed anyone who followed the game through to the end to have a chance at a puzzle – instead of just someone who might have signed up at the beginning of the game and then dropped it later.

I have had a lot of time to think about what happened with the handling of the final packages.. Although my indignation has somewhat calmed, I still feel decidedly insulted by Sony and the Puppetmasters of the 2012 game. I have no idea of the number of players of the game, but I do know that the number of heavily active and participating players is extremely small. I base this on the fact that for me to solve so many, relatively easy, puzzles – sometimes over 12 hours after they had been first published – that there certainly wasn’t a huge base of players eager to get the glory of being the first to solve. Add in the fact that the live events seemed to have an anemic number of participants (from what I can tell, no one even showed up to the Miami event) and you can tell that this game didn’t have an overabundance of players – in contrast to ARGs like Something In the Sea or Why So Serious?

As I said before, it’s not about the swag. The fact that I didn’t get a Sony Reader isn’t what makes me so upset. Jealous maybe, but not upset. What gets me upset is that it doesn’t seem like I mattered one bit to Sony. The Puppetmasters at least acknowledged my contributions on News Done Right, but it still feels rather hallow. I looked over all of my 2012 stuff and realized that I never got a single, personalized, in-game piece of correspondence. Not even a quick little email from a character saying “Nice job on the puzzle solves.” Even that would have meant more than seeing my name appear on the in-game websites, because that would have taken more effort than a cut & paste into the [Insert Solver #1's Name] on a pre-written blurb.

So what could Sony possibly do to make any of this better and not leave such a bitter taste in the mouths of its dedicated players? First of all, they could send a token of appreciation to all of those other players who didn’t receive anything. At the very least they should have a bunch of packages left over from the unclaimed dead drops. Would it really break the budget to put at least the print-outs in an envelope and mail them out? Not only would you be using items you had already paid for, but you’d also make a lot of players happy with feeling like the were actually included.

For me personally, at this point, a swag package isn’t what’s important and I would forgo it if meant that one more person who participated in the game would get something physical through the mail. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want anything. Instead, I would rather have some personal correspondence with whomever decided on the final package distribution scheme to begin with, so that they could explain to me their reasonings behind what occurred. An actual, physical letter with a stamp on it sent through the USPS would do nicely. Prove to me that my contributions were at least worth 44 cents of your gaming budget. If you’re reading this open letter on my blog, then it shouldn’t be too difficult to find my contact information if you are unable to find it in the multitude of times I submitted my information on the various IHC websites.

There’s one final issue that should be addressed in this post: Will I go and see 2012 in the theaters? If I can find the time to get to the theater, then yes, I will go see it. However, I also happen to be a believer in Karma. If Karma somehow dictates that I should accidentally buy a ticket to another movie when I meant to see 2012, I will still see 2012 but I don’t think I’ll take the time to correct the mistake. After all, I’m sure that other movie would probably be just as deserving of my $10 as 2012 but I would be sure to give 2012 a shout-out because that’s all that matters, right?

The puzzle is fairly easy – it’s just a jigsaw puzzle, although as you get more pieces connected, more colors get added into the rest of the pieces, so that helps out a bit. Personally I don’t think it’s the slam dunk proof that Corruption Theory says it is, but what do I know. He does say that he is mailing packages to people that he trusts with additional evidence. After solving all those stupid book ciphers, I had better get a package.

Re: Project Naaczaal

Status Briefing, October 27

Negotiations on the site for full-scale construction have completed. More information regarding the site selected will be available on an as-needed basis for teams involved in shipping and construction only.

Complete evacuation instructions will be available to all qualified staff members once our transportation plan is complete. We are assessing how to propagate this information as securely as possible and will report when analysis is complete.

All staff, please note that this overview is Eyes Only and should be deleted after reading.

Update: Ha! It turns out there were a lot more than 8 mistakes in this message. The code we got from Corruption Theory was missing a whole sentence fragment. Sorta wonder how he managed to solve the code with a huge chunk missing from it. I’ve added the missing bit in italics (and fixed that earlier typo I couldn’t figure out).

Re: Project Naaczaal

Status Briefing, October 25

We are sending out a new geological report that underlines the urgency of the project and confirms the necessity of our ambitious timeline for construction. This new data indicates there is no room for the project timeline for to slip. Team leads that do not meet scheduled milestones may face severe consequences, up to and including loss of red [sic] passes.

All staff, please note that this overview is Eyes Only and should be deleted after reading.

Re: Project Naaczaal

Status Briefing, October 20

We have encountered some significant challenges regarding site location, and we are bringing our allies to table to negotiate on our behalf. We are examining a number of fallback options, but do not believe this will present a serious impediment to our schedule.

Our effort to preserve cultural artifacts is proceeding on track, but we foresee some obstacles on the horizon.

Due to our recent funding situation, we are cutting the budget for over-the-table acquisition and relying more on covert methods and persuasion.

I may not be able to obtain every item desired, but we are confident that we will reach an acceptable percentage.

All staff, please note that this overview is Eyes Only and should be deleted after reading.

This was a book code based upon the first chapter of Farewell Atlantis that could be found on its website. The numbers were Paragraph-Line-Word-Letter. You had to use the formatting on the Farewell Atlantis site since the pdf of the first chapter had different line breaks. You could copy the text from the website to print out, but you had to make sure you added in all the correct line breaks instead of just letting the words wrap.

Then came the very long task of decoding the numbers. I’ve included my raw decode so you can see just how many errors there were in this puzzle. Way, way too many errors. There are actually so many errors that part of me wonders if there isn’t another puzzle just in the mistakes, but I don’t think it’s that sophisticated. I’m guessing more like the author was rushed and/or overworked and unable to find anyone with the time to actual check their work by hand. Good thing this isn’t going off to anyone important.

By the way, what is up with all of this stuff being linked to Jackson Curtis? Is the IHC/ARC just using him as a conduit without his knowledge, or is he part of the whole conspiracy? And I’d really wish we could figure out why all the blueprints we keep getting seem to be more for a movie set rather than an actual structure that will protect people.

{Re: Project Naaczaal}

Status Briefing, Octob?r 20

We have encountered some significant challenges regarding site location, and we are bringing gour allies to table to negotiate on ou behatf. We are examining a number if fallback options, but do not bglieve this will presaggt a serious impediment to our schedule.

our effort to preserve cultural artificals is proceeding on troct, but we foresee some obstacles on the horison.

due to our re?ent fuunding situation, we are cuttiing the budget for over-then table acquisition and rehyng more on covert methods and persussion.

I W may not be able mo oBtai? every item deesired, but we are confibent that we will reach an acceptable percestage.

All stafff, please {note that this overview is Eyes Only and should be deleted after reading.}

The parts I didn’t actually decode are in {}s so there might even be more errors, but I don’t care enough to find them.

RE: Project Naaczaal
Status Briefing, October 14

As per previous notice, due to a critical breach we are performing an immediate Level 3 security sweep. As a result, your access information for our secure file system has been changed.

your new password for the system is:Bs,w!ws+4.

for security purposes, your username has been sent under separate cover. if you have not received it, please inform HQ immediately.

All staff, please note that this overview is Eyes Only and should be deleted after reading.

Update: Wow, you can’t stay logged in very long to the Project Naaczaal site. When you get in, you can download seven different PDFs.

Username: safehaven2012
Password: Bs,w!ws+4.
[Please note that the ending period is part of the password.]

• Naaczaal-249-01.pdf nczl_admin 8/22/09
• Naaczaal-249-03.pdf nczl_admin 9/12/09
• Naaczaal-259-19.pdf nczl_admin 9/24/09
• Naaczaal-264-17.pdf nczl_admin 10/3/09
• IHC-Safe-Haven-1.pdf BLP 9/8/09
• IHC-Safe-Haven-2.pdf BLP 10/9/09
• IHC-Safe-Haven-3.pdf BLP 1/9/09

RE: PROJECT NAACZAAL

STATUS BRIEFING OCTOBER SEVEN

ATTACHED IS THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE NAACZAAL CONSTRUCTION TIMELINE. THIS REVISION ACCOUNTS FOR DELAYS IN PROGRESS ALREADY ENCOUNTERED. FUTURE DELAYS MAY CAUSE THIS TIMELINE TO UNDERGO MORE CHANGES, AND MAY IMPACT THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT.

THIRD QUARTER 2009: LOCATION OF PRINCIPAL CONSTRUCTION SITE LAUNCH TOWER AND DOCK CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY.

SECOND QUARTER 2010: BUILD OUT OF LAUNCH TOWERS AND DOCKS COMPLETED. BEGIN FULL SCALE CONSTRUCTION.

FOURTH QUARTER 2010: SKELETAL STRUCTURE COMPLETED.

FIRST QUARTER 2011: PROPULSION SYSTEMS AND HULL COMPLETE.

THIRD QUARTER 2011: INITIAL TESTING PROPULSION SYSTEMS AND HULL.

FOURTH QUARTER 2011: PENDING LEVELS SHOULD BE AT ONE HUNDRED PERCENT AND ALL NECESSARY MATERIALS ACQUIRED AND SHIPPED TO CONSTRUCTION SITE

FIRST QUARTER 2012: INTERIOR ELECTRICAL AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS COMPLETE.

SECOND QUARTER 2012: INTERIOR FINISHING WORK AND CLEANUP COMPLETE.

THIRD QUARTER 2012: BEGIN PROCEDURES TO PROVISION NAACZAAL CRAFT ADEQUATELY.

FOURTH QUARTER 2012: BOARDING AND LAUNCH.

ALL STAFF, PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS OVERVIEW IS EYES ONLY AND SHOULD BE DELETED AFTER READING.

Couple things of note after I’ve had the time to look at the plans.

1: There are some weird artifacts showing up in some of the image files. I don’t know if they were corrupted on certain thumbdrives or on the upload or if there is actual hidden data, but some little bit is corrupted somewhere.

2: There are little bits of odd background shading (for lack of a better word) in some of the images. You can see it as light grey marks on the Mesh Opening Edge and as black triangles on the Opening Elevation. I tried flipping the images based on the center lines, but nothing really jumped out at me. But it seems odd.

3: The newest set of plans almost seems to be part of a movie set rather than an actual working spaceship. Are the IHC building movie sets to fool us into thinking that they have space habitations for us? Or what’s going on?

Except I’m on to them and am solving it out of spite.

I’m also up against the clock because I know others are solving it and I would have had this done sooner if I hadn’t been roped into talking online to some rather silly people tonight. So I’m publishing this early and will fix my missing words as I get to them. Update: Woo! Done!

RE: PROJECT NAACZAAL

STATUS BRIEFING, OCTOBER SECOND

WE ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING A LOCATION NOW FOR FULL SCALE CONSTRUCTION.

REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:

1. SECURITY IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. LOCAL GOVERNMENT MUST BE ABLE TO CONTROL INFORMATION INTO AND OUT OF THE INSTALLATION.

2. A REMOTE LOCATION IS DESIRABLE FOR THE SAME REASONS.

3. A SKILLED AND HIGHLY TECHNICAL LABOR FORCE MUST BE AVAILABLE, EITHER ON SITE OR WILLING TO LOCATE. THIS LABOR POOL MUST BE OF SOME SIZE.

4. GEOLOGICAL STABILITY IN THE FIRST PHASES OF CRISIS MUST BE HIGH TO ALLOW TIME FOR EVALUATION PROCEDURES TO COMPLETE.

5. THE INSTALLATION MUST BE SUFFICIENTLY LARGE UP ALLOW FULL SCALE CONSTRUCTION TO TAKE PLACE. WE ARE NARROWING OUR CHOICES DOWN AND NEGOTIATING WITH POTENTIAL HOSTS AT THIS TIME. EXPECT A FINAL DECISION BY THE END OF THE MONTH.

ALL STAFF PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS OVERVIEW IS EYES ONLY AND SHOULD BE DELETED AFTER READING.

In case you were wondering, each word was a different ROT. Luckily they were sequential (0, -1, -2, …) so when you inevitably misparsed some numbers, you could usually see what letters were correct and which weren’t. So not hard. Just annoying.

Luckily for Corruption Theory and anyone else who is trying to find out what Project Naaczaal is, an encrypted note was recovered that has shed a little more light on this mysterious project. Not enough to know what is is or who is running it, but still it’s a start.

RE: Project Naaczaal

Status briefing, Sept Twenty-Two

We are now concluding feasibility studies and preliminary research for Project Naaczaal. Analysis indicates a high probability of success, and small-scale prototyping has begun. As of now we are several weeks behind schedule, but are working to collect data, resources and technologies that would accelerate the project by thirty percent.

Cost analysis shows that internal resources on hand are still insufficient. All available resources have been reassigned to Naaczaal where possible.

We are continuing with existing funding strategies as per the previous funding methods report and anticipate full funding levels will be reached by 3-10 2011, if not significantly sooner.

All staff, please note that this overview is eyes only and should be deleted after reading.

The method for the solve is behind the cut.

The code itself was just a simple substitution. The biggest problem was that the letters were turned into numbers which were then put together without spaces and without leading zeros, so you had to make some educated guesses as to where the breaks were. It’s easy to pick out the single 9, 8, and 7s. I then paired the leading 1s and 2s up. Any leftover numbers were treated as single digits. After converting those numbers to letters (A=1, B=2, … Z=26) I ran the result through a simple sub cracker and discovered I had about 95% of the text decoded. It was then just a matter of re-parsing some of the number blocks to get the correct decode.

There is one minor bit that I believe stays numbers and does not decode using this method 310 2011 (which I’ve marked with bold italics). It translated into gibberish so I left it as the date of March 10, 2011.

The number parsing:

[9][22]: [11][9][12][17][22][24][7] [13][26][26][24][1][26][26][15]

[8][7][26][7][6][8] [25][9][18][22][21][18][13][20], [8][22][11][7] [7][4][22][13][7][2]-[7][4][12]

[4][22] [26][9][22] [13][12][4] [24][12][13][24][15][6][23][18][13][20] [21][22][26][8][18][25][18][15][18][7][2] [8][7][6][23][18][22][8] [26][13][23] [11][9][22][15][18][14][18][13][26][9][2] [9][22][8][22][26][9][24][19] [21][12][9] [11][9][12][17][22][24][7] [13][26][26][24][1][26][26][15]. [26][13][26][15][2][8][18][8] [18][13][23][18][24][26][7][22][8] [26] [19][18][20][19] [11][9][12][25][26][25][18][15][18][7][2] [12][21] [8][6][24][24][22][8][8], [26][13][23] [8][14][26][15][15]-[8][24][26][15][22] [11][9][12][7][12][7][2][11][18][13][20] [19][26][8] [25][22][20][6][13]. [26][8] [12][21] [13][12][4] [4][22] [26][9][22] [8][22][5][22][9][26][15] [4][22][22][16][8] [25][22][19][18][13][23] [8][24][19][22][23][6][15][22], [25][6][7] [26][9][22] [4][12][9][16][18][13][20] [7][12] [24][12][15][15][22][24][7] [23][26][7][26], [9][22][8][12][6][9][24][22][8] [26][13][23] [7][22][24][19][13][12][15][12][20][18][22][8] [7][19][26][7] [4][12][6][15][23] [26][24][24][22][15][22][9][26][7][22] [7][19][22] [11][9][12][17][22][24][7] [25][2] [7][19][18][9][7][2] [11][22][9][24][22][13][7].

[24][12][8][7] [26][13][26][15][2][8][18][8] [8][19][12][4][8] [7][19][26][7] [18][13][7][22][9][13][26][15] [9][22][8][12][6][9][24][22][8] [12][13] [19][26][13][23] [26][9][22] [8][7][18][15][15] [18][13][8][6][21][21][18][24][18][22][13][7]. [26][15][15] [26][5][26][18][15][26][25][15][22] [9][22][8][12][6][9][24][22][8] [19][26][5][22] [25][22][22][13] [9][22][26][8][8][18][20][13][22][23] [7][12] [13][26][26][24][1][26][26][15] [4][19][22][9][22] [11][12][8][8][18][25][15][22].

[4][22] [26][9][22] [24][12][13][7][18][13][6][18][13][20] [4][18][7][19] [22][3][18][8][7][18][13][20] [21][6][13][23][18][13][20] [8][7][9][26][7][22][20][18][22][8] [26][8] [11][22][9] [7][19][22] [11][9][22][5][18][12][6][8] [21][6][13][23][18][13][20] [14][22][7][19][12][23][8] [9][22][11][12][9][7] [26][13][23] [26][13][7][18][24][18][11][26][7][22] [21][6][15][15] [21][6][13][23][18][13][20] [15][22][5][22][15][8] [4][18][15][15] [25][22] [9][22][26][24][19][22][23] [25][2] [3][10] [20][11], [18][21] [13][12][7] [8][18][20][13][18][21][18][24][26][13][7][15][2] [8][12][12][13][22][9].

[26][15][15] [8][7][26][21][21], [11][15][22][26][8][22] [13][12][7][22] [7][19][26][7] [7][19][18][8] [12][5][22][9][5][18][22][4] [18][8] [22][2][22][8] [12][13][15][2] [26][13][23] [8][19][12][6][15][23] [25][22] [23][22][15][22][7][22][23] [26][21][7][22][9] [9][22][26][23][18][13][20].

Numbers into raw letters:

IV: KILQVXG MZZXAZZO

HGZGFH YIRVURMT, HVKG GDVMGB-GDL

DV ZIV MLD XLMXOFWRMT UVZHRYRORGB HGFWRVH ZMW KIVORNRMZIB IVHVZIXS ULI KILQVXG MZZXAZZO. ZMZOBHRH RMWRXZGVH Z SRTS KILYZYRORGB LU HFXXVHH, ZMW HNZOO-HXZOV KILGLGBKRMT SZH YVTFM. ZH LU MLD DV ZIV HVEVIZO DVVPH YVSRMW HXSVWFOV, YFG ZIV DLIPRMT GL XLOOVXG WZGZ, IVHLFIXVH ZMW GVXSMLOLTRVH GSZG DLFOW ZXXVOVIZGV GSV KILQVXG YB GSRIGB KVIXVMG.

XLHG ZMZOBHRH HSLDH GSZG RMGVIMZO IVHLFIXVH LM SZMW ZIV HGROO RMHFUURXRVMG. ZOO ZEZROZYOV IVHLFIXVH SZEV YVVM IVZHHRTMVW GL MZZXAZZO DSVIV KLHHRYOV.

DV ZIV XLMGRMFRMT DRGS VCRHGRMT UFMWRMT HGIZGVTRVH ZH KVI GSV KIVERLFH UFMWRMT NVGSLWH IVKLIG ZMW ZMGRXRKZGV UFOO UFMWRMT OVEVOH DROO YV IVZXSVW YB CJ TK, RU MLG HRTMRURXZMGOB HLLMVI.

ZOO HGZUU, KOVZHV MLGV GSZG GSRH LEVIERVD RH VBVH LMOB ZMW HSLFOW YV WVOVGVW ZUGVI IVZWRMT.