User:Ciaran H/Who is Benjamin Stove?
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- This is an archive of the page at Who is Benjamin Stove? made at 01:48, 18 January 2006 (UTC) by Ciaran H. The archive was made to preserve the page if the AfD proposal succeeds, which looks likely. Please do not restore this page to the main namespace until the game becomes notable enough. Thank you.
"Who is Benjamin Stove?" was an alternate reality game created by GMD Studios, Campbell-Ewald and General Motors designed to raise awareness of the viability of ethanol as an alternative fuel. GM's FlexFuel vehicle was used as an example, although the purpose of the campaign was not to advertise the FlexFuel in particular, but to generate awareness. The game ran from January 2006 to April 2006.
[edit] About the game
The game started with a series of advertisements placed on a number of blogs. The advert linked to whoisbenjaminstove.com, where there was a blog apparently being maintained by what would come to be the game's main character, Tucker Darby. Tucker had discovered a mysterious painting found in the attic of his childhood home. The painting depicted a crop circle, and was signed "V. Stove 1913". According to research done by Tucker, "V. Stove" was possibly Vera Stove, the grandmother of Benjamin Stove.
Tucker's suspicions that not all was right with the painting began when he had problems with airport X-ray machines. The security guards at the airport ended up destroying the frame to get at the painting, where they discovered three things. The first, was the signature "V. Stove 1913". The second was a recipe card for Feijoada, and the third was a note from a Dr. Martinez to the parents of Benjamin Stove.
Tucker started up a blog and a webforum to attempt to find the origins of the painting and the identity of Benjamin Stove.
- All text below this notice is left over from the previous edit. Please feel free to use the text in the article, as long as it is updated.
Benjamin Stove was thought to be a crazy man and believer of strange phoenomena.
The painting is of a crop circle, who some say is in the shape of an ethanol molecule.
[edit] About the site
It is widely thought that this website is part of an ongoing alternate reality game. Evidence in favour of this position includes the fact that the domain name is registered by GMD Studios, who were involved in the earlier game The Art of the Heist (regarded by many as one of the better games of this type).
Nonetheless, the site may also be a wonderful model, an example of what might perhaps come to be known as a blog novel. Written with ongoing discussion and interaction between author(s) and audience, it does indeed bear sembalance to RPGs like Myst. In this early stage all one can do is join in the fun and follow as breadcrumbs are dropped along the path.
"What makes this especially interesting is the fact that blog ads were bought for several high-dollar sites to advertise Who is Benjamin Stove. Meta information indicates that this site may be the rabbithole into the next big professional game," says Dee Cook at argn.com.
