Difference between revisions of "ARG"

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m (Day 3)
(Day 3: Reworked. Let's keep out speculation and unnecessary details for now. The valve arg wiki is good for that)
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== Day 3 ==
 
== Day 3 ==
[[Image:Banana_error.jpg|right|thumb|The "error" recieved when crafting two banana peels together.]]A [[June 21, 2012 Patch|new patch]] is released, adding 8 {{w|MD5}} hashes to the game's code. Meanwhile, it is discovered that crafting two [[banana Peel]]s together will provide an error code. This code contains a base value (1-8), a code number (1-380) and a set of 8 {{w|hex}} values. These are quickly grouped by number, and {{w|crowdsourcing}} attempts begin. It becomes immediately apparent that the same user will get the same error code regardless of how, which, or when they craft banana peels. [http://xkeeper.net/private/portal/tf2.php This site] quickly becomes the location of the crowdsourcing. It is soon discovered that codes #7 and #8 are identical. Code #8 is cracked shortly afterwards. The output of this code is a QR code, which leads to a site containing a piece of an interview with [[Saxton Hale]] and a Mr. Thomas. The word monkeynaut is used, leading to a reference to [[Poopy Joe]]. Code #1 is cracked some time later. Code #2 is then cracked after that, and code #4 is cracked later.
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An [[item schema]] [http://git.optf2.com/schema-tracking/commit/?h=teamfortress2&id=338046be3b50d69b0eeb403112d10bf67814e5d6 update] added new records to the Eliminating The Impossible set attribute, consisting of 8 {{W|MD5}} hash strings.
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[[Image:Banana error.jpg|200px|right|The error message received when crafting two Banana Peels together.]]
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The [[June 19, 2012 Patch]] added the ability to craft two or more [[Banana Peel]]s together. This resulted in an error message, written in Spanish, Finnish, and Welsh, containing an error number and string of {{W|hexadecimal}} codes. Crafting the items does not result in the loss of them, and any further attempts to craft them will result in the same error message.
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The community begins collecting the unique error codes and sites, such as [http://xkeeper.net/private/portal/tf2.php this one], begin piecing the data together. It is discovered that the 8 error codes correspond to 8 different {{W|PNG}} images, with the hexadecimal codes corresponding to data chunks of the resulting image. The MD5 hash strings served to act as {{W|checksums}} for verifying the images are assembled correctly. The 8 resulting images produce {{W|QR codes}}, that link to images on the [[TF2 Official Website]]. The images are sections of a transcript.
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A [[June 21, 2012 Patch|new patch]] is released, adding 8 {{w|MD5}} hashes to the game's code. Meanwhile, it is discovered that crafting two [[banana Peel]]s together will provide an error code. This code contains a base value (1-8), a code number (1-380) and a set of 8 {{w|hex}} values. These are quickly grouped by number, and {{w|crowdsourcing}} attempts begin. It becomes immediately apparent that the same user will get the same error code regardless of how, which, or when they craft banana peels. [http://xkeeper.net/private/portal/tf2.php This site] quickly becomes the location of the crowdsourcing. It is soon discovered that codes #7 and #8 are identical. Code #8 is cracked shortly afterwards. The output of this code is a QR code, which leads to a site containing a piece of an interview with [[Saxton Hale]] and a Mr. Thomas. The word monkeynaut is used, leading to a reference to [[Poopy Joe]]. Code #1 is cracked some time later. Code #2 is then cracked after that, and code #4 is cracked later.-->

Revision as of 03:56, 22 June 2012

The TF2 Template:W (Alternate Reality Game) was blah blah blah that lead to blah blah.

Day 1

In the June 19, 2012 Patch the following craft items were added to the drop system - Goldfish, Pocket Lint, Cheese Wheel, Banana Peel, Barn Door Plank, Secret Diary, and Damaged Capacitor. They dropped along with any other item drop, making them very common.

Day 2

The following day, the June 19, 2012 Patch was released. With this update, any player who equipped the Eliminating The Impossible set would now see new descriptions for the previously added items. The new descriptions would have several random characters replaced by periods, resulting in slightly different strings for each player.

Item New description
Goldfish
Goldfish
'Think of the'
Pocket Lint
Pocket Lint
'...the... which...'
Cheese Wheel
Cheese Wheel
'may go on... the hidden wickedness...'
Banana Peel
Banana Peel
'...may go on...'
Barn Door Plank
Barn Door Plank
'...year in, year out...'
Secret Diary
Secret Diary
'the deeds of hellish cruelty and none the wiser'
Damaged Capacitor
Damaged Capacitor
' in such places, and ...'

Day 3

An item schema update added new records to the Eliminating The Impossible set attribute, consisting of 8 Template:W hash strings.

The June 19, 2012 Patch added the ability to craft two or more Banana Peels together. This resulted in an error message, written in Spanish, Finnish, and Welsh, containing an error number and string of Template:W codes. Crafting the items does not result in the loss of them, and any further attempts to craft them will result in the same error message.

The community begins collecting the unique error codes and sites, such as this one, begin piecing the data together. It is discovered that the 8 error codes correspond to 8 different Template:W images, with the hexadecimal codes corresponding to data chunks of the resulting image. The MD5 hash strings served to act as Template:W for verifying the images are assembled correctly. The 8 resulting images produce Template:W, that link to images on the TF2 Official Website. The images are sections of a transcript.