So for I-CON I made a micro-ARG to try to publicize my talk. I was dead terrified nobody would show up, and then I would have to suffer a coronary on the spot due to this unrecoverable damage to my massive ego. Happily, this did not happen; but it wasn't because of my Lost Bukkit ARG. Still, I had fun making it, and so I thought I'd share it with the world now that the con is over.
These flyers, which for the con were printed on neon green paper, were the centerpiece of my effort. This is also where to find my critical point of failure. As it turns out, my flyer distribution technique is decidedly subpar, and my half-hearted efforts didn't reach my intended audience. Lots of people saw and enjoyed the flyer on its own merits, but pretty much nobody looked at the flyer a little closer and sent email to Mr. Olruss.
The email is still live. Go on, try it out. You know you want to.
Once you get the autoresponse, you'll find that there's a very simply coded message therein. My intent was to have a player serenade me with a particular song. At that point, I would have surrendered the bukkit to the brave player, who could then have returned it to poor Mr. Olruss. And then he or she would have received the best reward a walrus knows how to give: fish! ...Swedish fish, that is.
