Post updated with a response from Jason Thompson, the author, at the end of this post.
Last September, I received an application to the RPG Bloggers Network (back when I was head-honcho) for a blog called “Theo Dudek, Ultimate Dungeon Master.” Aside from being a bit over the top- as many game masters tend to be- I thought the articles were good, I had seen him around Twitter and ENWorld, and it was good to see someone younger in the hobby and clearly so enthusiastic. So I added him to the network.
Well, flash forward to today when we received a review copy of a new manga called King of RPGs. My friend Phil had received a copy the day before and mentioned that Dudek was a character in it, but it didn’t really sink in what that meant. I cracked open the book today, and sure enough, Theodore Dudek, college student and “ultimate dungeon master” is a character in it. Not just a character with the same name who happened to also like RPGs: this was the same person. Don’t believe me? Here’s the picture from the blog:
And here’s from the book, taken from its site:
They both wear a d20 on a chain around their neck as well. Could someone have just adopted a role from the book? Seems unlikely, as the book doesn’t come out for another 4 days, and “Theo” has been around since sometime last year. Could Theo have been the basis of a character in the book? Possible I suppose, but I’ve poured over both his blog and the blog of the book and found no reference whatsoever to the other’s existence: you would think that being immortalized in comic book form would be a big deal to a college freshman.
So what’s the other option? The only other thing I can think of is the whole thing is a viral marketing campaign to promote the book, which would be revealed when the book was officially released. The author is already doing another form of viral marketing by doing “Street D&D” sessions.
Now, I am not opposed to viral marketing, though there’s clearly different types and different levels of ethics with them. However, I feel like I entered into a pseudo-business contract with an imaginary person. I’m not the only one possibly tricked, either. These are both from the Ultimate GM page:
Some of us “old fogeys” worry about youth in the hobby, and convince ourselves that the education system, X-boxes, and modern music have destroyed their minds. Your exceptional blog puts rest to these fears, and when we settle down to play cribbage with D&D minis on the porch of the Home, with blankets over our legs, we can be assured that the hobby will continue to flourish in the hands of folks like you.
and
If I hadn’t read your bio, I never would have known you were 17. You speak with the language and experience of a much older gamer.
It would definitely be easier to speak with the language of an older gamer if you were, in fact, 35 and a professional writer.
Here’s the thing… the blog is genuinely good, he’s a good one to follow on Twitter, and the book itself is a lot of fun. It takes a lot of classic magna tropes and combines them with all kinds of gamer stereotypes, tropes, and references (there’s even a screenshot of ENWorld in one panel.) I’m clearly a big fan of things about RPG players too. Heck, the fact that I was trying to make sense of it all compelled me to finish it within an hour.
But it all just seems kind of weird, you know? Especially to know that I let what may be an imaginary character’s blog into the RPG Bloggers Network. (Though that’s a fine line too… there’s definitely other in-character blogs there.) It just would have gone down better had I been in on the joke.
Either that, or there’s something else going on that I can’t figure out yet. I sent an email to the author and a message to the Theo Dudek twitter account for clarification, but at the time of posting, haven’t received any response. I will update this post if I hear anything back.
I have heard back from Jason Thompson, the author. This is an excerpt from his email, posted with his permission:
In the spirit of full disclosure… Theo Dudek is a character from King of RPGs. I’ve been working on the script for the comic for a long time now and I thought it would be fun to do a blog from the main character’s perspective, for the hell of it, to drop in story hints, and also to write various IC RPG-related things I couldn’t fit into the book itself. I was inspired by other IC blogs from other comics (and movies, TV shows, etc.).
Anyway, I really enjoy writing Theo’s blog and I– I mean “Theo”– intend to keep writing it. However, I understand that it may seem a little seedy that you received his RPGbloggers application, and I understand if you feel you ought to remove it from the network.
I have been reading the massive message thread and (assuming you want to post this) I want to say thanks to Theo’s defenders and readers and apologize to anyone who personally interacted with Theo online and feels taken advantage of. However, to those people who have dissed the whole thing on principle, I feel what I did was fine (except possibly for the aforementioned RPGbloggers thing). The whole thing was/is intended as a writing exercise, as a form of performance art, and as a sort of Easter egg. My intention was not to fool people in a malicious way, but just to write Theo’s blog as if he actually existed. I mean, even with the people Theo talked to, it’s not like he was flirting with anyone or giving anyone counseling. He’s just some guy who blogs about RPGs. I understand how the fact that he’s a character from a book might make people dismissive that the whole thing is a merchandising stunt, and in fact, that is the thing that I personally would be most skeptical about if our positions were reversed. Basically all I can say is that I hope people will take the blog at face value, and also take King of RPGs (the book) at face value, as separate things which can be enjoyed singly or together.
Oh, so he was only acting like an insufferable twit with all the emoticons in his text? That’s good to know.
.-= Wyatt´s last blog ..How To Plan A Spirits of Eden Campaign =-.
I hate this kind of manipulative crap.
There is one school of thought which says that we are all imaginary characters in the mind of God, so who are we to judge? 😀
Given the nature of role-playing and blogging as a whole I expect (indeed, welcome) a certain amount of creative play with the format. So long as the imaginary characters don’t start peddling “muscle” enhancing medication, it’s ok by me.
.-= greywulf´s last blog ..Finality =-.
I understand why Dave would be a little miffed by this, but why is everyone else pushed out of shape? Almost everyone’s internet persona is different from who they are in meatspace. If Dudek’s posts are quality, who cares if the persona is fictitious?
.-= Spenser´s last blog ..Review: d20 Pathfinder SRD =-.
We’re entering an age where identity is very fluid. This is the second such situation I’ve seen in the gaming market (after Pixelvixen707), and I foresee it happening more and more as games become more pop cultural and people (and companies) become more comfortable with the idea of an online identity.
Look at it this way: you added him to the network for several reasons, probably. One of these — his age — may have been fictional, but his writing and contributions still have the same quality they always have. It’s up to you to decide if you regret your decision in the light of new evidence. It’s natural to feel offended, but is there actual harm here?
.-= Gregory Weir´s last blog ..New Year’s Resolution 2010 =-.
I thought that he (by which, I guess, I mean the character) was a twit who sprinkled emoticons into his writing and acted like a little girl with a livejournal whenever you commented, greatly detracting from my ability to enjoy or take seriously anything he was saying. I just normally refrain from saying anything like that about a blogger until I find some suitable excuse for it. I wouldn’t say I’m bent out of shape. In fact I’m rather happy to be able to express my trollish opinion.
.-= Wyatt´s last blog ..Monsters In The Outfield (MM2 Review Part 6) =-.
I never knew that his persona was perceived as real, so this controversy is news to me. I just assumed from his name that he was an online role. Seems at least possible, if not likely, for most in the RPG blogoshpere. Especially for a guy with a name like THE-o DUDE-k.
Personally, I think it is kinda fun. No one is exactly who they really are when online. I have multiple handles that I use online. That is the nature of the medium.
And as for whether this is an elaborate viral marketing campaign, I find that much less beleivable than a 35 year-old writer who likes RPGs and decides to create an onine persona, then likes it enough to publish a book with the persona as the main character. He might not have even thought that he would get caught for his ruse, or of the possible consequences of said ruse. Either way, who cares? I’m pretty sure Wyatt and Greywulf are not the names on their birth cirtificates. I could be wrong though…
Tal vez ustedes entiendan lo que estoy diciendo si lo digo en Espanol. En ningun momento yo me he molestado por su identidad falsa. Es mas, que bueno que la persona verdadera no actua asi. Me haria muy triste saber que un hombre de 35 escribe como si estuviera en Gaia Online.
(Maybe you’ll understand what I’m saying if I say it in Spanish. At no point was I angry that he had a false identity. In fact, it’s great the real guy doesn’t act that way. I’d find it somewhat sad for a 35-year-old man to write like he was on Gaia Online.)
.-= Wyatt´s last blog ..Skill Rituals: Comprehensive Rules =-.
Update from Theo’s Twitter:
So, yeah, something’s going on, and we’ll find out soon.
I must say this is engaging in a surreal way.
.-= Wyatt´s last blog ..Where To Find Wyatt’s Old RPG Reviews =-.
I agree Wyatt, this is an interesting subject. Reminds me of the Reville incident on Enworld a while back, but less likely an outright lie.
Wyatt, never change.
I really don’t see a problem with a ficticious personae writing blogposts and writing games.
If he made tri-weekly comics and had a fictional partner we’d call him penny-arcade, as there is no real Gabe or Tycho lest we forget.
.-= Zzarchov´s last blog ..Let loose the dogs of war =-.
The thing is, Tycho’s fictional personality wasn’t created to be a marketing plug. It was created to be a character in a webcomic, and then when everyone loved the character Jerry Holkins conflated Tycho with himself a bit, so Tycho writes newsposts and shit. It was just something that happened.
That’s distinctly different from creating a false persona for the sole purpose of shilling a game.
@John: It’s not a game, it’s an amerimanga. I think.
@Wyatt – Oops, I thought it was an Amerimanga-inspired TTRPG.
As I’ve said, the main thing is that it’s weird, and I don’t have a good explanation for it, though hopefully one is forthcoming. I thought it better to report on it than sit on it.
Well hey, if an RPG was to be published, at least it’s Del Rey and not Yenpress behind the tentacled horror. Yenpress would insist on an artfully nude picture of the token female of the comic on the front in order to attract outside their niche. Because you know, Yenpress’ business operates out of Bizarro world. Hey, I’ve crammed in some manga publishing obscure references in here.
Guys, I have a confession to make. “Spenser” is just a fake personality I made up in a feeble attempt at viral marketing.
…So, when can I expect my Critical Hits exposé and the accompanying boatload of attention?
.-= Spenser´s last blog ..Review: d20 Pathfinder SRD =-.
it is not like the dude has a link to Amazon! How is a living character (if that is indeed even what is going on) that does quality entertaining posts anything other than just a different avatar or manifestation of the writer? He is not posting encouraging you to buy a certain brand of shampoo for the love of god! The posts from what I can see on the site are all gaming related and relevant. And if indeed it is related to the book, it makes me want to read the book because that much thought went into the character.
Also, Tyco’s fictional characater ended up in a game and comic and was a marketing plug for itself.
Do people really think it is just a marketing ploy? Any way you look at it, the blogger (whoever we consider that to be) has been relatively prolific, as well as passionate. The blog is at least as high quality as most others in the RPGBN, so the only thing left is an explanation. This is like a car wreck on the freeway. Sad, and makes me wonder why, but I can’t help watching. The bio will be interesting to explain. We shall see what comes.
And I am real, but I am a fake RPGBN blogger. I don’t even have a blog! Time to get to the bottome of this!
http://ultimatedm.com/?p=722
An elaborate admission in Fugue state speak. The plot thinkens.
>droopy emoticon
I guess I can comfortably not read that blog anymore.
How anti-climactic.
Wow, this is classic. People are weird period and gamers are no exception. If this was a ruse, it was a well played one, I honestly did not have a clue that theo dudek might not be a kid. I mean, I know a ton of kids who have amazing talent and I figured he was just one more. The name sounded like a fake one, but just about everyone uses an alias online.
Haha, I bet the kid on the blog in the pic is his little bro or something.
.-= kaeosdad´s last blog ..You’re Doing It Wrong!!! =-.
I didn’t have much of an opinion before reading the article Lee linked, but now I think the whole thing is a little troublesome.
Getting deeply into character while acknowledging the character is fictional is just good roleplaying. But getting deeply into character while passing off said character as a real person – even/especially to the extent that the character would react with confusion when called on it? At least he learned from that experience.
Viral marketing, I’m fine with. But genuine puzzlement as to why other people don’t like discovering the nonexistence of someone they thought was a real human being? That’s worrying. (I refer more to the previous incident he mentioned than to the current one – no one seems to have become close with the fictional blogger, so no one’s really hurt by the ruse.)
This, by the way, is what happens when you Google the phone number he lists on his resume. There is some other evidence as well.
yeah, see i don’t mind internet personas, but don’t give them fake #s and say that people who want to play games with you should give you a call. That’s when you imply you’re trying to pull the wool over someone’s eyes, not just having fun.
And who’s the kid in the photo on the website then?
Yeah, the picture is a little disturbing. The kid doesn’t look 17, might not be male, and seems to have on lipstick. Where is the photo coming from? The entire bio seems to have been created as an intentional deception. I agree that this is weird. It also might be pathological. The silence might be embarassment, it might be strategic silence, and it might just be oblivious authors, but it really makes a strange story. It will be interesting to find out from the author what is going on.
On a related note, the mass hysteria of the ’80s about losing one’s self in fictional space at the expense of meaningful relationships and the real possibility of hurting others, even if unintended, seems to be coming true. This is exactly the same thing that happened with the Reville incident on Enworld a while back. A lot of people were emotionally hurt by some online deception and some role-playing by a role-player when others were unaware of the role-play. While almost none of us are completely forthcoming about who we are while online, when someone makes up a role to play and others are not aware that it is just a role, then people will inevitably get hurt. It is interesting how this sort of thing really showcases what community means, and that the rules of community hold true, even in virtual communities.
@ananda: What I would be concerned about is a bait-and-switch. Sure, the blog may be well written and passionate, but the intimate yet murky connection to a commercial product leaves me wondering: is the blog suddenly going to ambush me with a product pitch? Will it be sudden, or will it be so gradual that, like the proverbial frog in the boiling water, the switch to a promotional blog will go unnoticed?
People misrepresenting themselves are, for right or wrong reasons, generally mistrusted. We’re wired to care deeply about identity, so messing with that without letting on that you’re deliberately messing with identity wigs people out. If you know someone isn’t who they say they are, you don’t have a fixed target for any trust you might otherwise want to invest.
.-= d7´s last blog ..A comment on POD and shipping =-.
I don’t know if any of this was malicious, but I doubt it. I discussed the situation with Dave before he posted this, and the general feeling was one of weirdness and confusion, rather than anger.
My biggest question, like a few of you, is about the photo on the about page. That seems like quite the extent to go to for an online persona, finding someone, dressing them up, and taking his photo to match said persona. I suppose whoever it is could have been the character model for the manga.
@Lee –
I seem to have missed this Reville incident. Anywhere I can go to actually read about it?
I am not sure where to find info on it except that it was a big stink on EnWorld when I was last actively reading the forums there. You could try to search for it, but I am too lazy.
Short story is that Reville was a 26k post member until his ban. He fabricated a story about being in a coma that he spread on EnWorld via a secondary account that was supposed to be his girlfriend’s account or something. The whole community mobilized to support him. This lasted several days if I remember right, and the whole community was seriously shaken up, telling their favorite “Remember when Reville…” stories. It eventually came out as a huge hoax, and the community was mad enough to ban him. There was even a debriefing thread started so people could vent about it. Much nashing of teeth. Bad business, lying. Even online. Community is community, no matter how virtual.
As someone who didn’t really interact with the guy a hell of a lot either on twitter or on his blog, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I generally don’t care if people have online personas unattached to their real self, but this seems different. Perhaps because it feels like such an intentional attempt to mislead. As it stands, I’m generally in the camp of feeling “weird or confused” and it makes me inclined to not visit his site or sites anymore.
.-= Aaron´s last blog ..WolfSamurai: Had a good time DMing tonight. It’ll be nicer when I’ve gotten in the swing of things and can do more complex things. #dnd =-.
Ah, the plot thickens. Somehow I don’t think the whole thing is a viral marketing campaign, but rather the SOP for an individual with serious identity and/or self-esteem issues, something that’s very common amongst “citizens of the net.” I could never take the blog seriously because the tone made him sound like a tool and there were a bunch of inconsistencies and a lot of overblown, or just plain, weird claims being made. A look at the resume is equally odd. Anyone live in California? You could easily fact check the resume since he claims to have graduated from Glendale High School as its valedictorian in 2009 with a perfect GPA – that’s something that ought to have appeared in a newspaper. I have no objections to people being creative online, but fraud is something all together different, especially if you’re some 30-something, pretending to be a 17-year-old boy.
.-= MJ Harnish´s last blog ..Help out the people of Haiti =-.
Google can be a fraud’s worst enemy. Look what I found for Glendale HS for the 2009 graduating class:
Total school enrollment: 3,100
Top Grade Point Averages:
Valedictorian: Roza Petrosyan (4.47 GPA)
Salutatorian: Nick Wagner (4.43 GPA)
Of course, I’m sure Theo will claim he goes to a different Glendale HS in California.
.-= MJ Harnish´s last blog ..Help out the people of Haiti =-.
damn, I commented on his blog all the time. completely fooled. of course I never read the resume closely, or fact checked it.
But hell, even as weird as all this is, like I said I’m pretty god damned sure that everyone is weird in one way or another. For example, I wouldn’t go so far as to look up some blogger’s personal information to verify their identity online, not that it’s weird, just rude. Like cyber stalking rude, I just wouldn’t do it.
I could see this as being an inside joke that built up to this inevitable conclusion. After checking out the king of rpgs site and reading the new post it just seems like the dude is a deep immersion writer.
The fact that he did this and successfully fooled so many for so long on a RPG Network is kind of fucking hilarious, and deeply ironic that so many are upset or highly judgmental about it.
.-= kaeosdad´s last blog ..You’re Doing It Wrong!!! =-.
@ MJ – I was looking for the actual valedictorian name last night and couldn’t find it!! But what I *did* find was that Glendale Unified School District works on a weighted GPA system (as do most high schools these days), so a 4.0 would NOT be valedictorian material unless it were unweighted, in which case, ANY kid would would list valedictorian would put “(unweighted)” next to a mere 4.0. You know who would list 4.0 as a valedictorian GPA? A guy in his 30s who doesn’t know/remember they weight GPAs these days. 😉
—–
Also, I think the confused people would be a lot more upset if it was Thea Dudek and everyone thought the blog was run by a hot jailbait female dungeonmaster who turned out to be a 30-something dude. Just sayin’. 😉
.-= E. Foley – Geek’s Dream Girl´s last blog ..Virgin DM Monologues: Danger at the Arcane Academy =-.
Whenever I’m weirded out or disturbed, I try to ask “why” and “what did I just learn” – sometimes it’s about me, sometimes it’s not. I never really paid Theo much mind, as I never really connected to it from the get-go, but then a lot of Intert00bz feels that way. I’m more curious to watch the reaction. This is a natural extension of RPGs. Fantasy play without the rules or barriers of the game.
What makes any of us think that this Dave Chalker persona is a real live human?
When he shows up as a character in some D&D/Battlestar Galactica crossover fan-fiction we will know the truth!
I feel the exact same way chgowz. It is weird, and could be considered pathoogical, but the most interesting part is the reaction. We are all RPGers here. This is only different from all of our favorite hobby in that some of us did not know that we were playing, yet all of us put on a role to some degree when we step online. It is the nature of the medium. The interwebs are another world, or maybe a series of other worlds, and so we have to create our presence here. Someone who is heavily involved with the creation of other personas in other worlds will likely eventually pull this kind of stunt. Maybe not to this degree, but definitely on this spectrum.
I guess, as chgowiz has subtly suggested, we should all ask ourselves what we have learned. I think another important thing we could do is ask ourselves the question “Who am I online?” I actually did this a while back, and ended up deciding to start using my real name instead of a handle for a majority of my communication online. This is actually the fourth “identity” I have had online. Not that I have ever overtly lied about myself, but I have definitely exposed different parts of myself, and taken different tones or voices online. Most of this was because of the difference in the culture of the places that I frequented while wearing each “identity,” but they were all different roles, purposful or not.
The internet, where the women are men, the men are boys, and the boys are FBI agents?
I’m not personally upset since I didn’t read more than a couple of the guy’s blog posts. But I don’t agree with the people who are looking it as a kind of online performance art. Plenty of people write blog posts from the perspective of characters (I’m a big Generic Villain fan), but they aren’t pretending those characters are actual humans. That’s the line. There will always be people misrepresenting themselves, and every time it happens, it erodes just a little bit more of the trust we all have in the internet as a place where someone can find a real community.
I’ve always had a consistent online identity. My username is Swordgleam everywhere I go and I try to be the same online as I am in real life.
I would hesitate to psychoanalyse someone over the net. If professionals can’t do that successfully, amateurs definitely won’t get it right.
.-= d7´s last blog ..A comment on POD and shipping =-.
Swordgleam, I do not think that this kind of behavior is benign, but neither do I think that it is too far removed from what most people do online. Just a little further down the spectrum. I think that the true reason for upset is that this is an activity that we all engage in, just most of us choose to no cross a certain line. It very much appears that a line has been crossed here.
d7, I am not sure that anyone is engaging in psychoanalysis here. Seems like there are a few modes in our distribution.
1) Some are offended, and view this as the work of a deviant.
2) Some are amused, and see it as something that we all engage in to some degree.
3) Some seem to just say “It figures.” and seem to pass no judgement whatsoever.
I have suggested that this might be pathology, but I did this while playing devil’s advocate to those suggesting it is a viral marketing campaign, and I sit firmly in the camp that says this is a common internet activity that has been taken too far. The label of pathology was not meant so much as a judgement as an explanation. I have also said that this could be an accident, not meant to harm people, just getting carried away. There appears to be deception, and it appears that it was purposful, but it may have been viewed as benign by the perpetrator.
And on top of that, who says that there are not professionals present in this conversation?
>we should all ask ourselves what we have learned.
I have learned a valuable lesson. Whenever I think a blog sucks, I should probably investigate all claims made on it for the possibility of Viral Marketing. And then when I reveal it, everyone will tell me (and any commentators who don’t immediately express joy that it was a cute trick) that I am being angry, upset and butthurt and that I shouldn’t be so closed-minded; regardless of what I actually said.
I have to admit that I don’t understand this brouhaha. I’m the marketing director of an independent press and a hardcore gamer myself, and I actually think this idea is a brilliant one. It seems that viral marketing is the ONLY kind of marketing that sells a book these days. The fact that so many people feel insulted or amused, or even the fact that they feel anything at all, indicates that this viral marketing campaign is working. So all this expose really did was create more interest in his character.
Yes, I get that some people feel deceived, but I say you shouldn’t. Clearly a real person wrote those posts–someone who knows his RPG stuff and can speak about it intelligently, if only by using a fictional, precocious 17-year-old boy named Theo Dudek as his engine. I’m sure the creator of Theo Dudek didn’t wake up one morning and say, “Hmmm, I feel like hoodwinking the entire nation today. I know what I’ll do! Let me create a fictional character and let America think he’s real!” I think it was more like, “Hmmm, what can I do to sell my book?” That’s just my take on it, anyway.
I just went to Amazon and bought a copy of KING OF RPGs. Love him or hate him, his idea worked.
@ailenicon: The difference between this kind of viral marketing (assuming it is) that makes people angry, and the kind of viral marketing that people recognise and accept easily, is the same difference as between astroturf and grassroots politics.
One pretends to not be what it is, implying that the deceivers think that the product or message is worth little enough that lies must be used to prop it up. People don’t like being lied to, and readily conclude that if the perpetrators have so little faith in their product/message, that it’s insulting for them to expect anyone else to buy it.
I humbly submit that your professional perspective, in this case, distances you from the rest of the people evaluating this Theo Dudek. So, there’s some free market research for ya.
.-= d7´s last blog ..A comment on POD and shipping =-.
@D7
I get what you’re saying, I really do. I can’t presume to speak for whoever is the mastermind behind this, but I have a totally different perspective than you do. I don’t think these tactics reflect that the product itself has to be inferior, and I don’t really consider what this person did to be lying. It’s not about having faith in the product, it’s about finding a very creative way to promote a product, that’s all. I have some experience marketing graphic novels, and I know how competitive it can be. In a comics market that is, frankly, over-saturated, what can a person do to make their product stand out? I think the author did his market research and had a great idea and went with it. I don’t think there was malicious intent there, is all I’m saying. I also think that the author must be a hardcore gamer himself, so it’s not like he’s misrepresenting himself in that case, either.
That being said, I completely understand how someone who has dutifully followed Theo Dudek on his blog and on Twitter can feel somewhat betrayed. I might even feel angry if I had gone as far as commented on the blog or engaged in a Twitter conversation with said fictional character, but who knows. I can only assume that the author of that blog meant no harm by what he did.
@ailenicon I completely agree with you.
Seems like a case of a “method” writer especially in light of the latest post on the UltimateDM.com blog. If Captain Reynolds (firefly) had an in-blog character, it would not clearly identify him as an actor, and it would have his fictional lifestory, if you talk to him via that blog, he would not admit to being a fictional character. Read the last blog carefully. If Theo is a character, why would he ever tell you that he is a character. He is real in his world, he is real in those writing, his passion for gaming is real.
I personally think it is rather admirable to have the writing skills and the passion to create such a real character that does interact and respond to tweets and blog comments and is engaged with the community. What is convincing fictional writing other than pretending to be someone else?
@d7 I trust you have keener perceptions than a frog. I hope you, unlike a frog, would jump out if you were sitting in a boiling pot. Your analogy does not hold good sir/madam. There is not a lick of advertising in the blog as it stands. You have met an online character, who responds in-character to all online communications, now you have a choice whether you like that character and what he blogs about or do not. If you do, then you find out more about him, like @ailenicon did, or you disengage. Since most of us never actually meet the online bloggers we follow, I do not see how this is any different.
I would ask that people keep things civil and respect the feelings of others in this scenario. Without more information (which is supposedly forthcoming on Monday) it might be best to let it drop at this point.
I’ve learned that apparently a post about something relatively minor, though interesting, can generate a crap-ton of comments in a short period of time on our site. 😀
[Posts forthcoming about donuts that are actually robots from the future sent here to be delicious.]
Everyone likes a controversy.
That they do, Lee.
I agree with Dave, that it’s probably time to wait for more clarification, though I do just want to clarify one thing.
@ananda –
The reason people are going to more upset over this one than a Malcolm Reynolds blog is that the Mal blog would be, explicitly, from the perspective of an established fictional character, even if, in-character, he wouldn’t say so. Whereas this one, if fake, is a fictional character attempting to pass himself off as real, including fake real-world contact info.
It gives the feeling of being lied to, while the Mal blog gives the feeling of a joke that everyone is in on except the blogger himself.
So people are going to be more weirded out than by a fictional character’s blog.
It’s the future! Hahaha
.-= kaeosdad´s last blog ..You’re Doing It Wrong!!! =-.
I would have never heard of Theo’s little manga or ever given it the time of day without his little long gestating stunt. Judging by the passion and comments on this post alone, I’d say his whole venture is a massive success.
My real name is not The Last Rogue.
@TheMainEvent: Extrapolating from a sample of one is always going to give favourable results. I’d never heard of him before, and I’m definitely not going to read his blog or spread his manga by word of mouth.
From that perspective, I would chalk up the passion and comments here more to the RPG blogospheres’ own self-interest in issues of trust, networking, and online identities and less on the scheme working. I would also be making a common statistics error if I did that.
.-= d7´s last blog ..A comment on POD and shipping =-.
My likelihood of reading his blog did not change (If it has a catchy post title on the RPGBN I might read it) and my likelihood of buying his manga is unchanged (0%). Still one data point, but it definitely speaks to why I am in this discussion. I think that the phenomenon is interesting, and exploring identity in regards to RPG players and the internet is very interesting. I have advertising immunity for this if advertising were his motivation.
The 17yr old blogger who turned out to be a fictional character. Trippy. Whether or not this increased sales, it still sparked some deep questions and fueled some interesting behavior in this thread. Being one of the above few readers/bloggers who actually interacted with Theo Dudek I gotta say Jason, that was some matrix type of shit you pulled there.
.-= kaeosdad´s last blog ..Bad gamer! Bad! =-.
@d7: Come from a science background, do we? A small time venture like “King of the RPGS” (or whatever its called) is never going to have enough readily accessible data points or quantifiable measureable phenomena to make a hard conclusion on the success of a given marketing technique. When people buy products there’s no way to really know why they buy it (hence why marketing and advertising are the first budgets slashed during tough times). I daresay the whole field of marketing is open to a whole lot of guesswork and squishy conclusions. A sample of doesn’t always get favorable results, as this article could have gotten 0 comments and few pages views (neither are true). Is it a massive success? Who knows, I sure don’t, but there are a large number of people that have been thinking, talking, and considering this “King of RPGs” manga that would have never even done it before. Was it worth the time and elaborate effort? I don’t know, but its clearly born SOME fruit.
Also, having read the update from Theo himself, this strikes me as a totally legitimate, if controversial, creative exercise. Hats off for the amount of time, effort and dedication to a passionate work of art. This guys isn’t rubbing poop on the Virgin Mary or anything, he’s basically creating a trippy in-world source online that poses as a real world source. I love this kind of world-building (think about the use of search ‘works’ in Dune and the like) and this is just using a new medium for a very old, and effective trope.
Yea, I gotta say, this is NOT a big deal. I haven’t read anything from this dude, and am just now finding out anything about either the blog or the manga, but the functional reality is that real people do not inhabit cyberspace – period. Everyone on here is operating under at least some thin veil to their true identity. Heck, the same thing can be said of 95% of people you meet and interact with in “meatspace” (I love this term and will begin using it a frequently as possible). I mean, who got angry with Bungie and Halo over ilovebees? Or the Heroes or Lost ARG’s? These are ultimately the very similar things. It’s a way of expanding the fictional landscape with minimal overhead cost and without having to cram a bunch of extraneous BS into the primary narrative. If this guy was able to create a gaming blog with real, independent worth that also fleshes out his fictions main character and hasn’t used this false persona to convince anyone that he’s friend with a certain Nigerian Prince, than I say more power to him and everyone who’s complaining is just jealous! That goes for you too Mr. Brahe!
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Tycho Brahe says:
January 15, 2010 at 8:29 pm
I hate this kind of manipulative crap.
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P.S.: And no, I am not just another psuedonym of the author, though I guess it would be hard to prove either way ;-D
@TheMainEvent: Have people actually been discussing the manga? I’ve only seen what’s in this post’s comments, which seems to have been limited to “is it the same guy? yup. weird.” which doesn’t really seem to be discussing the manga itself. Is it being talked up elsewhere?
And I take your point about the squishiness of marketing. Offering up the data point is legitimate—a page full of those would be interesting.
.-= d7´s last blog ..A comment on POD and shipping =-.
I’ll say this for him, before this happened, I had never heard of him or the Manga. So in a way he succeeded in getting my attention, and now I might look at it out of curiosity. Do I feel taken advantage of? No, when I see Chatty DM’s first D&D module I will probably look at it because I read his blog, if I didn’t I’d probably not look at it. Is there really a difference?
I have been avoiding posting about this because I don’t want to give this guy any more publicity, but I have written about my side of events on my latest blog post:
http://ultimatedm.com/?p=730
This is becoming even weirder.
I think we have a Sherlock Holmes type thing going on, the author pretends the character is real and is only documenting or telling tales about him…
I like how his “viral advertising” pitch is essentially “Don’t buy this book. It’s crap, and it misrepresents gamers!”
Also how he doesn’t know that a 17-year-old can’t enter into a legal contract. Even if a 17-year-old may not know that, any parents of one who have had to sign things for him for 17 years would.
.-= Graham´s last blog ..Wherein CAB Pretends to be a Professional of Sorts =-.
Man, I hate it when I miss something.
So others do not make my mistake, read the end of the OP. There is an explanation for all this madness.
At least I have been polite. I would hate to have ranted in anger while brandishing only half the story.
I spotted this a little while back, and while normally I’d get a bit ticked about deceptive marketing, I have no problem with this at all. Let me explain…
Most viral marketing feels hollow – just a bit of fiction, usually from a “fan” and it quickly drops off the face of the earth after Little Orphan Annie tells you to drink your Ovaltine. This wasn’t “Hey, buy my book!” or some idiotic “Ilovebees” ARG stunt, but this was some really good articles and discussions.
It IS a blog about gaming. Even if it’s under a fictional persona, who really cares as long as it’s good and the stories are reasonably factual? This is a hobby of storytelling and imagination and I’ve seen very little reason to deem his points as invalid, especially in this subject.
I’ve had the pleasure of having the author, Jason Thompson, run events at a convention I was running and he’s a pretty upstanding guy who knows his stuff. Theo’s blog is very entertaining and takes a few different slants than many RPG blogs. I look forward to reading “King of RPGs” and hearing more from Theo on his blog. I really don’t care who’s who and what’s what in this case, just that they keep up the good work.
All I can think of right now is “Who is wearing the Mask of Nyarlathotep?”
Given that disclosure, I have no problem with the blog now. The “tell” that gave the fiction perspective was missing, and now it’s not.
.-= d7´s last blog ..A comment on POD and shipping =-.
Well i for one think this whole thing is really cool and creative, especially since the character supposedly hates the book. If it weren’t for this little controversy i would never have heard of the comic or the blog and i intend to read both.
This whole affair smacks of a carefully planned viral marketing effort. More importantly it denigrates anyone that is a member of the RPGbloggers network.
My suggestion is that every post on the RPGbloggers site from this loser be purged. Additionally, any blog/site/forum post that linked to the “Theo” site add a “NO FOLLOW” tag to their link. Give viral marketing the respect it deserves: none.
Make it very clear that this type of activity is not tolerated.
Trask
@Graham — Actually, an emancipated minor can enter into “contracts of necessity.”
@Trask — I assume you are referring to the blog for “that book”. I agree that it is a highly insulting representation of gamers and I too would prefer the whole thing to be buried as quickly as possible. Anyone with an Intelligence of greater than 6 should be ashamed of writing a book that depicts gamers as fanatical and humorless maniacs. I’m glad we’re on the same page! ^^
Well, this whole series of events has been very interesting… I certainly plan on reading the blog and giving the manga a try. Viral marketing and epic roleplaying FTW!
@Theo –
Yes… though for that to be the case, you would need to be an emancipated minor (unlikely, though theoretically possible), and this would have to be a contract of necessity (necessity referring to food, medical care, and [not even in all cases] shelter), which it is not.
So, yeah, this contract, if it existed, would not be legally enforceable in any way.
Plot holes are visible, but ignorable. We play games with alternate realities, why not laternate legalities?
Trask: well, if that sort of behavior isn’t tolerated, what about all the other rpg bloggers trying to make a buck? I know that there is a lot of us rpg bloggers that do not interact outside a very small circle and yet posts ads, receives products to review and then posts a review in which if a link is clicked on they receive money. And what about when a company sends close to a dozen of these blogs a product which is to be reviewed and cross posted simultaneously.
Theo’s blog had genuine content for a long time. Some people didn’t like it, some did. This is part of my point but my real point is this…
Where does the community draw the line? Marketing is marketing, and I see it going on constantly through the feed.
.-= kaeosdad´s last blog ..Descendants of Ancient Urthos: Campaign Primer =-.
While I agree with Trask’s dislike of the whole affair, Kaeosdad has a really good point. If you think back to last spring when a number of network bloggers started posting preview/reviews of the stuff in the 4E PHB2 – IIRC, all of them had received the books from WotC. That’s about as viral as you can get. Of course, they were all open (somewhat down right enthusiastic) about having received the preview copies but that doesn’t really change the fact that WotC targeted the most popular, 4E-lover blogs with the books – I wonder what would have happened if they sent a book to one of the PF/3.5-lover blogs instead. ;op
Anyone who reviews a product that they’ve been comped from a publisher walks a very fine line, which is one of the reasons the disclosure rules suddenly showed up last year. Similarly, I think reviewers ought to disclose if the receive any sort of perk, percentage, or payment for an embedded link in their review. The waters are very muddy nowadays…
.-= MJ Harnish´s last blog ..Am I the only one who is not excited about another LotR RPG? =-.
@everyone discussing this in comparison to reviews on blogs: There are certainly some comparisons to be made to let’s say here at Critical Hits if I recieve a review copy of a book and post about it. However, the key difference is that I (as Bartoneus or Danny) am not an online entity created with reference to or in an effort to market any of those products. I know it’s the internet and you can’t trust most things, but many of the people coming here to read our reviews at least know that Dave and I have been writing here for a while and there’s (I hope) a level of trust that is built up.
The only issue with this whole King of RPGs situation is the entry into the RPG Bloggers Network under what I consider to be false pretenses. We previously would discuss and consider a publisher or marketing blog if it came to us, and if it truly had unique and beneficial RPG content then we would strongly consider accepting it but they did come to us saying “hi we’re a publisher/marketing blog, but we have this good content!” not “Hi I’m a 17 year old gamer writing about gaming” and then it turns out to be a tie-in to a published product.
You might see some similarities between that and blogs like CH or others, but we certainly did not start Critical Hits to advertise the PHB2, although Gnome Stew might have a harder sell on that one since Gnomes were in the book. 😀
@bartoneus: sorry, didn’t mean to imply anything.
If the whole ploy was indeed intended solely as viral marketing, and not just a cool creative idea I’d agree. But it still is a neat idea.
.-= kaeosdad´s last blog ..Descendants of Ancient Urthos: Campaign Primer =-.
MJ Hamish: I can think of one blog right off the top of my head that’s pro-Pathfinder (and generally down on 4e) that received one of the copies and wouldn’t be surprised if there were others. The situation as you depict it isn’t the whole story, and I know this because I watched pretty much the whole thing from the start.
@Living in modern times
I completely agree with you. Someone on this thread indicated that marketing and publicity are bullshit, but who can really believe that? Without marketing and publicity (reviews) where does product awareness come from? Without marketing, there is no co-op, without co-op there is no face-out or tabletop merchandising in bookstores (insert any other kind of media here–I use books as an example because that’s my expertise, but it will hold true for pretty much any product) or online vendors, without marketing there is no advertising, without publicity how will you know if something is worth purchasing? Sure, a review is based on one person’s opinion, but these people are paid to be experts in whatever type of product they’re reviewing. Do you not read movie reviews in The New York Times or Entertainment Weekly and give them credence? Do you not read Consumer Reports before you buy a car? You see how I can go on and on about this. And with new media, of course viral marketing will become more prolific. Anyway, I don’t mean to start a fire, but that’s just what I think. And I read KING OF RPGs and thought it was clever and funny. I would recommend it to anyone who plays tabletop RPGs and likes comics. Also, a sense of humor is required.
With various accusations being thrown around and the two sides finding little to no common ground, seems like it’s time for this comment thread to be closed off. We know the truth now, so make your own conclusions.