pepsi blue buzzzzzz
July 25, 2004 2:46 AM   Subscribe

I love bees (via slashdot)
posted by seanyboy (22 comments total)
 


Get this - I was thinking of what new FPP I could post on Metafilter. Currently I'm listening to Metallica on my headphones. I thought, "how about a front page post which simply says "I love Metallica" with links to Metallica fan pages?" I thought this as I loaded Metafilter, took a sip from my beer, finished my sip then looked down and saw a post nearly identical to the silly FPP I was thinking of - "I love bees".
posted by Jase_B at 4:03 AM on July 25, 2004


Oh, and by the way, no, I would never have actually made an FPP about Metallica fan pages. I was just enjoying the music!

(On second thoughts, I have no idea why I even bothered to tell you all)
posted by Jase_B at 4:05 AM on July 25, 2004


More best of the web?
posted by TungstenChef at 4:24 AM on July 25, 2004


I've seen a heck of a lot of scorn poured on this over the last few days... people seem far more annoyed by it than they have been by previous viral marketing efforts. Is this just, uh, a meme too far?
posted by reklaw at 4:36 AM on July 25, 2004


reklaw: I have a bit of an interest in this and these sorts of marketing efforts/games - what have these people been saying about this, and where?
posted by adrianhon at 7:04 AM on July 25, 2004


adrianhon: the slashdot post that this FPP was "via" and the links to various discussion boards in the comments there are probably a good place to start...
posted by reklaw at 7:19 AM on July 25, 2004


Oh, I know about the discussion boards and the slashdot post. What I meant was what and where this scorn was. I think most people are aware that the game is 'just' a marketing stunt (in the same way that normal games are 'just' here to generate money); what I am wondering about is whether people dislike the game or its vehicle, and if so, why.

For example, in the slashdot thread there are many people implying that since it's a marketing stunt, it's not worthy of any attention. This is not particularly surprising since the vast majority of these viral marketing efforts end up being rubbish. However, the AI game (aka The Beast) by Microsoft and Dreamworks SKG was a marketing stunt aimed to promote the movie, but it also happened to be an incredibly playable, enjoyable and innovative free game. I don't know much about this 'I Love Bees' game yet, and from first glance it doesn't seem to measure up to the AI game, but if people are dismissing it because it's 'just' a marketing stunt, that would be a shame.

Here are a couple of slashdot posts in the same vein: one, two.
posted by adrianhon at 7:41 AM on July 25, 2004


XQ: If you watch the new trailer for Halo 2, then at the end of the video when the X-Box logo comes up, you'll notice that the 'www.xbox.com' blurb beneath fuzzes for a second and turns into 'www.ilovebees.com'.

If you go there, then you find a very peculiar broken webpage. On that page is a link to a weblog at ilovebees.blogspot.com. There, you can find a bit more about what is supposedly going on, and you can also contact the blogger concerned and ask her questions.

The whole thing is a game to promote Halo 2. Exactly what Halo 2 has to do with bees is not entirely clear (some kind of stuff to do with AIs is the current theory). I don't really know whether the game is any good yet - it hasn't been running for very long. People suspect that it is being run by the same folks who did the AI game I mentioned above - if so, that means the game could potentially become very good. So far I am unconvinced.
posted by adrianhon at 7:58 AM on July 25, 2004


Shame the wiki was broken, because that's where you'll get most of the info. It seems fine now. The address is http://bees.netninja.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page. It's worth going through this to see how far people have come with the puzzle.
posted by seanyboy at 8:31 AM on July 25, 2004


Bungie has a history of playing these kinds of PR games. Marathon was the only Mac video game I played, and Halo is the only console game I've ever played start to finish, but I'm still pissed about the Microsoft sale...
posted by Voivod at 9:50 AM on July 25, 2004


I EAT BEES.
posted by quonsar at 9:58 AM on July 25, 2004


WHAT ABOUT TAPES?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 9:59 AM on July 25, 2004


what I am wondering about is whether people dislike the game or its vehicle, and if so, why.

I get the feeling that this "promotion" is going to attract more than its fair share of flak, due primarily to the fact that it is attached to a console game rather than a film. Gamers have a deserved reputation for being antisocial morons with a penchant for inflated ego and irrationality. (SEE ALSO: Penny Arcade Forums)

Someone's already been shitting on the Wiki, replacing whole pages with nonsense like "SUCK MY COCK METAFILTER ELITISTS" every 15 minutes. I doubt the Wiki (in its current incarnation) will last much longer, Cloudmaker help us.
posted by Danelope at 10:11 AM on July 25, 2004


It'll all show up on Marathon's Story eventually anyway.
posted by darukaru at 10:28 AM on July 25, 2004


The Unfiction Forums are a great source for information, if the wiki seems to be getting iffy.

To see some good examples of 'the scorn,' check out the comments on the latest post at ilovebees.blogspot.com. It's seems like a lot of people are just focused on making sure that everyone else knows they haven't been duped by Microsoft/Bungie/whoever. The conversation also seems to tend towards Halo vs. Metroid Prime flame wars, which is really fantastic in terms of the suspension of disbelief.

Most of these people are missing the point of these games. I doubt anyone playing along has any question that all of it is fake, but they still participate because there are nifty puzzles to be solved and an interesting narrative to follow.
posted by mmcg at 10:36 AM on July 25, 2004


QUONSAR SHOULD BE FILLED WITH ANGRY BEES.
posted by loquacious at 12:36 PM on July 25, 2004


A SPACIOUS Hive well stock'd with Bees, That lived in Luxury and Ease;
And yet as fam'd for Laws and Arms,
As yielding large and early Swarms;
Was counted the great Nursery
Of Sciences and Industry.
No Bees had better Government,
More Fickleness, or less Content.
They were not Slaves to Tyranny,
Nor ruled by wild Democracy;
But Kings, that could not wrong, because
Their Power was circumscrib'd by Laws.
posted by johnny novak at 1:23 PM on July 25, 2004


Novak, do you know the beloved, well-fam'd beeswacky?
posted by mwhybark at 5:06 PM on July 25, 2004


no - who s/he?
posted by johnny novak at 2:10 AM on July 26, 2004


Gamers have a deserved reputation for being antisocial morons with a penchant for inflated ego and irrationality.

s/Gamers/Teenagers/ with the caveat that most gamers never really make it past age 15.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 3:49 PM on July 26, 2004 [1 favorite]


QUONSAR SHOULD BE FILLED WITH ANGRY BEES.

Okay, but I get first whack at the angry-bee filled quonsar pinata.
posted by Ufez Jones at 5:46 PM on July 26, 2004


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